as that island fell to the American naval steamroller in August. Following these operations, the ship returned to the west coast for a refit which lasted through the early fall of 1944. Philippines campaign, November 1944 – April 1945 She joined the 7th Fleet on 27 November for operations in the Philippine Islands. Shortly after noon that day the Japanese seemingly celebrated Wallers return to the battle zones by launching a suicide-plane raid by 15 planes. During the fracas, Waller shot down one intruder and assisted in splashing another. On the night of 27–28 November, the destroyer led the four ships of Destroyer Division 43 (DesDiv 43) in a night sweep into Ormoc Bay, preparatory to American landings there. Her mission was one of the first penetrations of these waters since the Americans had been forcibly ejected from the Philippines almost three years before. While bombarding Japanese troop concentrations, she kept on the lookout for whatever small Japanese coastal naval craft might be encountered. The ships poured shells onto the shores around the bay for an hour, before they proceeded into the Camotes Sea in search of shipping. An Allied patrol plane radioed a message to the division noting that a surfaced Japanese submarine—later determined to be I-46—was south of Pacijan Island, heading for Ormoc Bay. The division reversed course to intercept; and, at 01:27, Wallers radar picked up the target just off the northeast coast of Ponson Island. Firing all batteries that would bear, the destroyer steamed directly for the submarine—passing the word to "stand by to ram." Countermanding this order at the last minute because the submarine looked like she was already severely damaged, Waller instead continued to pump 40-millimeter and 5 inch shellfire into the enemy submersible which attempted a weak and ineffective return fire with her deck guns. At 01:45, as Waller doubled back for a second pass, the submarine's bow rose up towards the sky; and she sank, stern first.Waller remained in the Leyte Gulf area until 2 December, after making a second sweep into the Camotes Sea on the night of 29–30 November in search of a reported 10-ship Japanese convoy. While she found no trace of the convoy, she nevertheless located and smashed six enemy barges with gunfire. Also during the Ormoc Bay raids, the ship came under Japanese air attack on both Ormoc Bay excursions on one occasion, three bombs fell within