Manus on 10 October and entered Leyte Gulf on 17 September. Three days before Army divisions came ashore, Hamilton swept the channels around Diriagat Island and Looc Bay to clear the way to the invasion beaches. To add to the usual turmoil of the invasion, the fleet as a whole was under almost constant air attack. In the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Imperial Japanese Navy was virtually annihilated; the Japanese lost three battleships, four carriers, six heavy and four light cruisers, and nine destroyers. American losses were two escort carriers, a light carrier, and three destroyers. This battle marked the end of Japanese sea power as an important threat. The fleet had cleared the way for the final assaults leading into Japan. Arriving at Manus, Admiralty Islands on 31 October, Hamilton underwent availability and repairs and, once more ready for battle, sailed on 23 December to prepare the way for the invasion of Lingayen Gulf. As the minesweepers steamed through the channel on 6 January 1945, wave after wave of kamikazes attacked. Hamilton emerged from the kamikaze attacks unscathed. After the invasion forces landed at Lingayen Gulf on 9 January, Hamilton remained as a transport screen and escort until 1 February when she sailed for Saipan. From Saipan, the veteran ship again steamed into battle, this time appearing off Iwo Jima. Hamilton recorded no casualties during sweeping operations which began on 16 February, but she had to aid , left powerless by a direct bomb hit on 18 February. In addition to helping the wounded ship fight myriad fires, Hamilton took on board and care for the more seriously injured sailors. After marines stormed ashore on Iwo Jima on 19 February, Hamilton patrolled off the island until on 27 February. The four-stacker then returned to Iwo Jima as a convoy escort 7 March. Three days later Hamilton sailed from the battle and from the Pacific War. Steaming for Eniwetok, she changed course to rescue 11 men from a downed Boeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft on 11 March. Hamilton reached Pearl Harbor via Eniwetok on 25 March 1945 and, after a brief period of training, headed back to the continental United States. As she sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge on 8 April, the destroyer ended over 100,000 miles of steaming in the Pacific. Scheduled for overhaul and modernization, she went into drydock at Richmond, California; but she was subsequently reclassified