for transportation to Hawaii and departed the west coast on 17 February in company with and . She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 23 February. During March, Uhlmann underwent availability, conducted training, and rendered occasional convoy screening services in Hawaiian waters. In April, she conducted carrier escort training exercises and honed her skills in shore bombardment and radar tracking in preparation for assignment to carrier screening duties. Two hours after sunset on 24 April, while Uhlmann was participating in training exercises in Hawaiian waters as an antisubmarine screening ship for the carriers of Task Group 19.2, she was struck amidships by destroyer . The collision tore an hole in Uhlmanns hull below the water line, flooding her firerooms and the forward engine room. The following day, she was taken in tow by and returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 April. After temporary hull and engine repairs, she set her course for San Francisco on 17 May, steaming on her port engine with her forward fire and engine rooms out of commission. On 24 May, she moored at Hunter's Point and, for the next two months, underwent extensive repairs. In August, she returned to Pearl Harbor and resumed training exercises including torpedo firing and antisubmarine warfare drills. After one false start, she departed Oahu on 18 September with and and set her course for the Admiralty Islands. En route to Manus, she was diverted to the western Caroline Islands and reported to 3d Fleet at Ulithi on 30 September. During a typhoon on 3 October, a nest of three destroyers drifted down on Uhlmann and pierced three holes in her starboard side. A few hours later, the destroyer made an emergency sortie from the lagoon with Task Group 38.2; but, by nightfall, high seas had carried away her emergency damage control measures and flooded the anchor windlass room. She returned to Ulithi on 4 October for repairs by and, on 6 October, was underway for an at-sea rendezvous with Task Force 38—the 3d Fleet's Fast Carrier Force—the following day. At noon on 9 October, the carriers began a high-speed approach to a launch position for strikes on the Ryukyus. On 10 October, planes launched by the carriers struck Okinawa, destroying enemy aircraft, shipping, and shore installations in preparation for the projected landings on Leyte, Cebu, and Negros. After fueling at sea on 11 October, TF 38 began a high-speed approach on