as evacuation hospital transport and shuttled medical supplies between Holtz and Massacre Bay. Off the entrance to Dutch Harbor 17 July, she received 12 survivors of the Russian Seiner No. 2. Following amphibious exercises off Amchitka Island, she landed elements of the Army's 1st Special Service Force on Kiska 14 August and later on Little Kiska Island. But the Japanese had evacuated under cover of fog, leaving a few mongrel dogs as sole inhabitants. This marked the end of the last Japanese hold in the Aleutians. Kane remained on duty between Alaskan and Aleutian ports until 20 November 1943, then steamed south for an overhaul in the Mare Island Navy Yard until 7 January 1944. Kane arrived in Pearl Harbor 18 January 1944 to join the 5th Amphibious Force for the capture of the Marshall Islands. Her Marine escort secured the channel islets at the entrance of Majuro Lagoon on the night of 30 to 31 January 1944 and later took the islands on the east side of Kwajalein Lagoon. She sailed 25 February to help screen amphibious landing ships for the invasion of Milne Bay, New Guinea, then entered Seeadler Harbor, Manus, as the 7th Cavalry Regiment took the remaining strong point in the Admiralty Islands. The high speed transport landed men of the 163d Infantry at Aitape 22 April 1944, and bombarded enemy positions before withdrawing to shell Ali Island. After escorting a convoy to the Solomon Islands she returned to Pearl Harbor 23 May 1944. After training out of Pearl Harbor and preparations at Eniwetok, Kane landed Marines for the invasion of Saipan 15 June 1944. After the fast carriers of the 5th Fleet destroyed Japan's carrier-based airpower in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the transport supported Underwater Demolition Team 4 in operations off Saipan. On 23 June, she dodged an aerial bomb that sprayed her with shrapnel and wounded three men. She replenished at Eniwetok, then entered Agat Bay, Guam, the afternoon of 17 July. The Japanese had planted three lines of palm-log cribs filled with coral rocks, linked each to the other by wire cables as antiship defences. Her "naked warriors" of Underwater Demolition Team 4, assisted by other teams, blew up hundreds of these obstacles, clearing the way for the marines, who landed 21 July 1944. On 24 July, as the frogmen worked into the night, Japanese mortar fire in Agat Bay barely