settling into a routine of shuttle voyages between Eniwetok and the Marianas. Late in September, she towed a different floating dry dock, , to the Palau Islands where, during the first 18 days of October, she provided support services to the combined forces invading Peleliu. At that point, she received urgent orders to rendezvous with after that light cruiser had been damaged by two torpedoes during a Japanese aerial blitz to answer Task Force 38's raids on Okinawa and Formosa. She relieved of the light cruiser and towed her into Ulithi lagoon on 27 October. After serving at the anchorage there for five days, the tug returned to sea with a group of oilers. Soon another set of urgent orders sent her to aid another light cruiser, , which had been torpedoed in the Philippines, off the San Bernardino Strait, on 3 November by Japanese submarine . Though the cruiser nearly capsized, the ships’ companies of Zuni and Reno combined efforts to meet the threat; and the tug succeeded in towing the cruiser 1,500 miles (2,800 km) back to Ulithi. The tug remained in Ulithi for the rest of November and throughout most of December. During the latter month, she towed the disabled merchantman into Ulithi and conducted a solitary cruise to eastward of the Philippines. On 29 December, Zuni put to sea with Task Group 30.8, the replenishment group for TF 38, and cruised for almost a month off Luzon. She returned to Ulithi on 28 January 1945 for engine repairs. 1945 She moved back out to sea in February and arrived off Iwo Jima three days after the initial assault. For 31 days, she performed yeoman service for the warships in the area. She pulled a transport off a sand bar. She provided engine partial power to , which had lost one engine, as LST-944 made her run for the beach, and Zuni remained alongside LST-944 to assist the vessel to remain in position on the beach against the very high surf to land the US Army 506th 90 mm AAA Battalion, which was attached to the 3rd Marine Division. The use of a tug to help power an LST (Landing Ship, Tank) to the beach was a Navy first in amphibious landings. Her more routine missions consisted of assisting broached landing craft and laying submerged fuel pipes. Work in the shallows, however, was as dangerous to her