for the next 28 days screened the carriers, and after 11 September, the battleships, as Japanese targets in the Palaus and the Philippines were pounded. Striking first at the Palaus to prepare for the mid-month invasion, the force then turned on Mindanao and the Central Philippines. Between the 15th and the 19th, they supported the Palau invasion, then struck at Luzon and the Visayas before retiring to Ulithi. On 6 October, the force sortied again. The Nansei Shoto, Luzon and Formosa were the targets blasted in preparation for the return to the Philippines. Fired on, by mistake, by a unit of TG 38.4, while off Formosa, 12th–15th, Prichett retired to Manus for repairs and replenishment. From the Admiralties, she steamed to Ulithi and rejoined TG 38.3 for further strikes against Luzon and the Visayas. The force returned again to the same area at the end of November, to support fighting on Leyte, and in December, to support the Mindoro landings. Iwo Jima and Okinawa On 30 December, the Ulithi logistics base was left behind again as the force steamed west to welcome the new year, 1945, with strikes against Luzon and Formosa. The ships then thrust into the South China Sea and hit enemy shipping and shore installations from Saigon to Formosa, and then struck at Okinawa. They then retired to Ulithi, replenished, rearmed, and, on 10 February, departed to raid the industrial complexes of Honshū. After striking Tokyo and Yokohama, the force turned back to cover the landings on Iwo Jima, 19 February. There Prichett was reassigned to Task Unit 52.2.5 (TU 52.2.5), with which she remained in the Iwo Jima–Chichi Jima area until 9 March. By 12 March, the destroyer was back at Ulithi to prepare for the invasion of the last stepping stone to the enemy's home islands: Okinawa. Attached to Task Force 54 (TF 54), Prichett arrived off the objective 25 March to cover minesweeping and underwater demolition team operations. Preinvasion bombardment, harassment fire and fire support missions off Kerama Retto followed. On 1 April, she participated in the demonstration "feint" on southern Okinawa, then swung around to screen the transports off the Hagushi assault area. Just after 01:00, 3 April, the Japanese commenced a long day of aerial resistance. At 01:42, Prichett, having beaten off several attacks, was closed by two bogies. The first veered off, but the second pressed on and dropped a 500-pound