on New Guinea, and to patrol between Aitape and Tanahmerah Bay. From 15 May to 5 August 1944 Daly served in the Western New Guinea operations. She provided fire support and bombardment in the Toem-Wakde-Sarmi area, off Biak, Noemfoor, and Mios Woendi Islands, and acted as radar guard and linking ship between the landing and covering forces off Cape Sansapor. After a brief overhaul at Sydney, Australia, she sortied from Humboldt Bay 11 September for the invasion of Morotai, providing patrol and fire support before returning to Manus 29 September. She got underway on 11 October to render fire support to the troops invading Leyte and joined in the surface action with Japanese ships during the Battle of Surigao Strait phase of the decisive Battle for Leyte Gulf on 25 and 26 October. Daly returned to Manus 3 November and six days later sailed for a West Coast overhaul. 1945 Daly arrived off Iwo Jima 16 February 1945 in the screen of air support carriers. She rescued 11 survivors of Bismarck Sea (CVE-95), sunk by a suicide plane on 21 February. Daly cleared the area 7 March for San Pedro Bay, Leyte, to join forces preparing for the invasion of Okinawa. On 27 March she sortied to provide patrol and fire support during the assault and occupation of Okinawa. During a suicide attack on 28 April she took an enemy plane under fire and splashed it a scant 25 yards off the port beam. The plane's bomb exploded, killing three and injuring 16 of Daly'''s crew. Repairs were quickly accomplished at Kerama Retto and Daly resumed her hazardous patrol duty. On 25 May she aided Bates (APD-47), a kamikaze's victim, rescuing one badly burned survivor from the sinking ship. On 10 June she screened the carriers of the 3rd Fleet in their strikes on the Japanese mainland. After replenishing at Leyte Gulf, Daly returned to Okinawa 16 July 1945. She joined with Task Force 95 (TF 95) to sweep the East China Sea for enemy shipping. Two more searches off the mouth of the Yangtze River and approaches to Shanghai were made before the end of the war. Daly arrived at Nagasaki 14 September for occupation duty, serving in Japanese waters until 17 November when she departed Sasebo for the United States, arriving at San Diego 6 December. She arrived at Charleston, S.C., 23 December, and was placed out of