the screen of a convoy bound for Bizerte and Oran. During the early part of November, Tatum escorted another convoy from Oran to Marseilles then screened the Army transport Mariposa to Naples and returned to Oran on 15 November. Tatum got underway again on 24 November to screen a convoy back to the United States, arriving at New York on 11 December. Pacific War On 12 December 1944, she began conversion to a high-speed transport at Tompkinsville. On 15 December 1944, she was officially redesignated APD-81. Tatum (APD-81) cleared Tompkinsville on 6 March 1945, steamed to the Chesapeake Bay for training until the 14th, and stood out of Hampton Roads on the 16th in company with . Following port calls at Panama and San Diego, Tatum entered Pearl Harbor on 12 April 1945. She conducted more training in the Hawaiian Islands before getting underway with a convoy headed, via the Marshalls and Carolines, for the Ryūkyūs. Tatum arrived off Okinawa's Hagushi beaches on 19 May and reported for duty with the antiaircraft and antisubmarine pickets stationed around the island. At dusk on 29 May, the warship was proceeding to her radar picket station when she was attacked by four enemy planes. As the first intruder swooped in across her bow, Tatum's guns opened up and scored hits on his wing and fuselage. He banked sharply and headed for the ship's starboard side. About 40 feet from her, the plane's left wing and tail struck the water, jarring loose his bomb. It skipped off the surface, struck and careened off the underside of a gun sponson, and pierced Tatum'''s hull and two of her longitudinal bulkheads. The dud came to rest with its nose protruding eight inches into the passageway inboard of the executive officer's stateroom. The plane also skimmed over the water into Tatum, dented her hull, and knocked out her director fire control and communications with the engine room. Meanwhile, the second and third planes were setting up for their attack. Tatum drove one of them off with gunfire, but the other pilot continued on toward the ship until a hail of gunfire caused him to lose control of his aircraft. He banked sharply to the right, passed by Tatum's port side, and splashed about 100 yards astern. Within seconds, his cautious comrade renewed his attack. He dove on the fast transport, barely missing the port wing of her