path of the returning Japanese striking force. After reaching Pearl Harbor the day after the Japanese attack, Wright got underway on 19 December to transport 126 Marines of the 4th Defense Battalion, with their gear, to Midway. She returned to Pearl Harbor on the day after Christmas with 205 civilians embarked. 1942 Wright then underwent voyage repairs, loaded stores and cargo, embarked passengers, and set sail for the South Seas. Departing Pearl Harbor on 2 April, Wright touched at Tutuila, Samoa; the Fiji Islands; Espiritu Santo, in the New Hebrides – where she debarked men of VP-72 – and Nouméa, New Caledonia, before she reached Sydney, Australia, on 26 April. After visiting Melbourne and Fremantle, Wright headed for the Hawaiian Islands, retracing her course, and reached Pearl Harbor on 16 June. For the next five and one-half months, Wright shuttled military passengers, arms, gasoline, and other equipment to Midway and other defense bases of the Hawaiian Sea Frontier. Leaving Oahu on 1 December, Wright headed for the South Pacific carrying, as passengers, the officers and men of Marine Scout Bomber Squadron 233 (VMSB 233) and VMSB-234, along with other passengers and logistic support cargo. 1943 The seaplane tender debarked the personnel from VMSB-233 at Espiritu Santo and those from VMSB-234 at Nouméa before she returned to Pearl Harbor on 17 January 1943. She sailed thence to Midway, transporting a group of passengers that included 205 Marines, and from there shifted to the Fiji Islands where she disembarked the 7 officers and 254 enlisted men of FAB Unit 13 who were put ashore with their gear and logistic cargo. Departing the Fijis on 9 March, Wright sailed by way of Pearl Harbor, reaching Oakland, California, for an overhaul at the Moore Dry Dock Co. Following repairs and alterations, the tender put to sea on 20 July, bound for the Hawaiian Islands, and debarked the men of Marine Fighting Squadron 223 (VMF-223) at Pearl Harbor a week later. Wright sailed again for Espiritu Santo at the end of July, arriving there on 12 August; and landed the 31 officers and 238 men of VMF-222. She next proceeded to Rendova harbor, Rendova Island, and tended the planes of VP-14 until 17 January 1944. 1944 She then shifted to Hawthorn Sound, New Georgia, to tend that squadron along with those from VP-71 until 18 April. Upon arriving at Gavutu harbor, Florida Island, in the