The ship joined Steamer Bay (CVE-87) and some other vessels and cleared Ulithi on 3 July 1945, and about three hours later, they formed Carrier Cover Unit, TU 30.8.23, to take part in raids against the Japanese home islands. The Allies planned to invade Japan through two principal plans: Operation Olympic—landings on Kyushu scheduled for 1 November 1945; and Coronet—landings on Honshū scheduled for 1 March 1946. Olympic included a diversion against Shikoku to precede the main landings, and the enemy prepared to defend the islands ferociously. "The sooner Americans come, the better…One hundred million die proudly," a Japanese slogan exhorted their people. The enemy deployed massed formations of kamikazes, as well as kaiten manned suicide torpedoes, shinyo suicide motorboats, and human mines—soldiers were to strap explosives to their bodies and crawl beneath Allied tanks and vehicles.