southern France. On 15 August, the five ships of TransDiv 13 rapidly put 1,600 troops ashore, and the islands were secured within three days. During the next two weeks, Tattnall and her sister transports shuttled reinforcements and supplies into southern France and evacuated Allied wounded and German prisoners of war. For the remainder of the year, the high-speed transport escorted convoys between ports in the Mediterranean Sea. Tattnall returned to the United States at Norfolk on 21 December and began a month-long availability period before heading for the Pacific. She got underway from Hampton Roads on 31 January 1945. After transiting the Panama Canal early in February and making stops at San Diego, Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, and Ulithi, the fast transport reached the Okinawa area on 19 April. The high-speed transport remained in the Ryukyus through the end of the month. During that time, she stood guard on several of the screen stations which circled Okinawa to protect the units of the fleet from attack by kamikazes. Tattnall fired at enemy planes several times in the days preceding the night of 29 April and 30 April. Three red alerts before 0200 failed to materialize into enemy attacks. However, at about 0215, bogies began closing in from the west. A twin-engined plane crossed Tattnalls stern from about 3,000 yards, and her 40 mm gun crews opened fire. The attacker retired to her starboard quarter with one engine ablaze, only to renew its attack. This time, her gunners finished the job they had begun on its first pass, and it crashed into the sea. Soon thereafter, a kamikaze approached the warship from starboard. Tattnall, her engines at full speed, turned hard to port to evade the attacker. It splashed down close to her starboard bow. Debris rained down on Tattnall and pierced her above the waterline, but she suffered neither casualties nor serious damage. The following day, Tattnall departed Okinawa and headed for the Mariana Islands and convoy escort duty. She arrived at Saipan on 3 May and returned with a convoy to Okinawa on the 20th. The warship resumed picket duty but experienced no more action like that of the night of 29 April and 30 April. To be sure, her crew stood long watches and, on 25 May, was at general quarters for 18 hours straight. On that day, Barry and Roper were hit by kamikazes. Barry later sank, and