bridge, and Tatum's antiaircraft fire followed him up as he climbed, did a wing-over, and prepared to come in again. His third and final attack carried him across the ship's fantail and into the water about 50 feet from her starboard quarter. The fourth plane apparently had been holding back waiting for his colleagues to open a favorable route of attack. He then circled, banked to his left, and dove at Tatum. Her barrage ripped off part of his left wing, and he plummeted toward the water, splashing into the sea about 30 feet from her port bow. Then an underwater explosion rocked Tatum severely but caused no damage. Despite considerable damage to the fast transport, her crew had all essential equipment back in operation within 15 minutes. Relieved by later that evening, she stopped at Hagushi to take on a bomb disposal officer and moved two miles out to sea where the dud was disarmed and dropped overboard. Tatum returned to Hagushi the following morning; then moved to Kerama Retto for repairs.Tatum underwent temporary repairs and departed the Okinawa area on 11 June to escort a convoy to Ulithi. From there, she screened to San Pedro Bay, Leyte, where her permanent repairs were completed; and Tatum conducted exercises with , , , and . On 18 August, she departed San Pedro Bay to escort and Mississippi to Okinawa, entering Buckner Bay on the 21st.Tatum spent eight more months in the Far East, assisting in various phases of the post war occupation and reconstruction. Between 9 and 11 September, she screened a task unit carrying occupation officials from Buckner Bay to Wakanoura Wan, Honshū, Japan. She remained there until 19 September, assisting in the evacuation of Allied prisoners of war. From there, she shifted to Nagasaki where she supplied boats for the evacuation pool. On 25 September, Tatum put to sea for Buckner Bay where she arrived the following day. Three weeks later, the high-speed transport sailed for the Philippines. At Manila, she joined a convoy of troopships bound for French Indochina and arrived at Haiphong on 2 November. After embarking soldiers of the Chinese 52d Army, the convoy got underway on the 4th for Chinwangtao where it arrived on the 12th and disembarked the troops.Tatum continued to shuttle passengers between Chinese ports until mid-April 1946. On the 12th, she stood out of Hong Kong to return to the United