area until 3 May and delivered a preinvasion bombardment and call fire. On 3 May, two days after the actual landings, she departed Tarakan to resume duty in the Philippines, where for the remainder of the month she conducted training operations. June – Nov. 1945 In mid-June, Taylor rejoined the 3d Fleet at Leyte Gulf and, for the remainder of the war, screened various units of that fleet. During the latter part of the month, she screened aircraft carriers operating south of Okinawa which conducted air strikes on Sakishima Gunto. On 25 June, she returned to Leyte Gulf and remained there until 8 July, when she departed in the screen of TG 30.8, the logistics group for the fast carriers of TF 38. The destroyer operated with TG 30.8 off Honshū until 3 August when she joined the screen of one of the fast carrier task groups, TG 38.4. On 8 August, she resumed duty with the logistics group for five days. On the 13th, Taylor rejoined TG 38.4 just in time to be a part of the last offensive actions directed at Japan. Following the cessation of hostilities on 15 August, she patrolled off Honshū with the fast carriers. Admiral William Halsey, commander of the 3rd Fleet ordered that the destroyers from DesRon 21 be present in Tokyo Bay for Japan's surrender "because of their valorous fight up the long road from the South Pacific to the very end." On 23 August, Taylor and her old sisters Nicholas and O'Bannon formed the screen of Missouri (BB-63), and as such she was one of the first American warships to enter Tokyo Bay, arriving on 29 August. The destroyer was present at the surrender ceremony conducted on board Missouri on 2 September and carried Allied war correspondents to and from the ceremony. She operated in the Far East when she departed Tokyo Bay. On 7 October, she docked at Okinawa and picked up troops returning to the United States. On 18 October the Taylor dropped off her passengers at Portland, Oregon and arrived in San Francisco on 1 November and began preparations for inactivation. On 31 May 1946, the destroyer was decommissioned and placed in reserve at San Diego. 1951 – 1953 After four years of inactivity, Taylor moved to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard on 9 May 1950 and, three days later, began an extensive conversion to an escort destroyer.