voyaged to Trinidad where she took YFD-6 in tow before continuing on to the Panama Canal. Arikara reached the Canal Zone on 3 January 1945, transited the canal, and delivered her tow at Cristóbal on the 5th. The following day, she and Bannock (ATF-81) got underway for Hawaii. The tug entered Pearl Harbor later in January but remained there only until resuming her westward voyage on 4 February, bound ultimately for the Ryukyu Islands. After stops at Eniwetok and Guam, she reached Ulithi Atoll, in the Carolines, on 17 March. There, she reported for duty with Service Squadron (ServRon) 10 and began preparations for the conquest of Okinawa. Ten days later, she departed Ulithi as part of Task Group (TG) 50.8, the 5th Fleet Logistics Support Group, and headed for the Ryukyu Islands. To begin the campaign, during the last week in March, American forces took Kerama Retto, a small group of islands about 15 miles west of southern Okinawa. Then, on 1 April, the main assault force landed on Okinawa proper. Arikara spent the next 11 weeks based at Kerama Retto assisting ships and craft damaged in the struggle for Okinawa. On the night of 2 April, the tug went to the assistance of after that high-speed transport had suffered a devastating suicide crash from a Kawasaki Ki-45 "Nick" twin-engine reconnaissance/ground attack aircraft. Arikara's crew managed to extinguish the fires raging on board the Dickerson, and the tug took her in tow for Kerama Retto. In spite of Arikara's efforts, Dickerson proved to be beyond economical salvage and was towed out to sea on 4 April and sunk. Although Arikara's main mission at Okinawa was the removal and salvage of damaged landing craft, kamikaze attacks continued to add to her burdens. On 11 May, a horde of suicide planes attacked and on picket station no. 15 to the northwest of Okinawa. Arikara sped to the aid of Evans, which had sustained four suicide crashes in rapid succession. Arikara moved alongside her, put five pumps on board, made fast a hawser, and towed the destroyer into Kerama Retto for repairs. A bit over a week later, on 17 May, — her officers and crew drained by long hours at general quarters and a night of illumination fire in support of the troops ashore — ran aground on a reef near Naha while en route to yet another call fire mission.