vessel. On 10 April — while making a practice torpedo run during preparations for forthcoming Allied landings at Hollandia — Thorn struck an uncharted reef. Damage to her screws and shafts forced the ship back to the West Coast for an overhaul. En route home, she escorted the battleship to Bremerton, Washington. She subsequently escorted the escort carrier from the Puget Sound Navy Yard to San Francisco, California, where she eventually arrived on 22 May. After completing her overhaul at the Hunter's Point Navy Yard, Thorn conducted refresher training and then escorted the battleship to Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 11 August. She then escorted the battleship to Purvis Bay, Solomon Islands, where she joined escort carrier Task Unit 32.7.1 (TU 32.7.1) and proceeded to the Palaus for the landings on 15 September. During this deployment as screen and plane guard, Thorn rescued the crews of three Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers which had "ditched." Philippines service, October – December 1944 Detached from escort duty at the end of September, Thorn joined the U.S. Seventh Fleet at Manus Island, in the Admiralties, on 3 October. As American forces massed for the initial assaults on the Japanese-occupied Philippine Islands, Thorn joined the fire support screen for TF 77. She entered Leyte Gulf on the night of 18 October and screened battleships and cruisers during their early shore bombardments. As Allied troops swarmed ashore two days later, the destroyer provided interdiction fire at Abuyog, south of the Leyte beaches, and patrolled the southern end of Leyte Gulf for the following week. At dawn on 21 October, Thorns gunners opened fire on a Japanese Aichi D3A and sent the enemy dive bomber splashing into the sea near the transport area. On 22 October, the destroyer and the cruiser splashed another enemy aircraft. During the fierce night action at Surigao Strait, Thorn screened the American battleships as they mauled the Japanese force coming through the strait. Originally ordered to conduct a torpedo attack on the Japanese battle line, Thorn and her mates were recalled as the Japanese retreated back south through Surigao Strait. She then formed up with the lefthand flank of cruisers and destroyers and headed south to polish off the cripples from the Japanese force. The American ships came across one Japanese destroyer and smothered it with fire which summarily dispatched it to the depths. During her 17 salvoes, Thorn