splashing one enemy plane and damaging another. After brief upkeep at Eniwetok, Miller got underway to rendezvous with the remainder of the task force for further strikes on Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima (3–4 July) and Palau, Ulithi, and Yap (23–27 July). On 30 August the force sailed to support the landings in the Palaus by conducting raids against Palau, Mindanao, Leyte, Luzon, and Samar (7–24 September). In October, operating from Ulithi, the task force prepared for the return to the Philippines with strikes on enemy installations in shipping in the Ryūkyūs, on Taiwan, and in the South China Sea. On the 20th, it commenced support of amphibious operations on Leyte and Samar. Five days later Miller joined the screen of Task Group 34.5 (TG 34.5), then operating with TG 38.2. The two groups then sailed to assist TF 77 which had engaged an enemy force in Surigao Strait in an opening phase of the epic Battle of Leyte Gulf. Shortly after midnight, while patrolling the waters at the eastern end of San Bernardino Strait, TG 34.5 sighted an enemy destroyer. After several exchanges of gunfire, Miller and closed in to finish off the target, accomplishing their missions in under 20 minutes. Miller then rejoined TF 38 which had resumed air operations against the Philippines. The force raided air installations on Luzon, Leyte, and Samar into November, receiving, on the 19th, its first taste of a new Japanese tactic, the kamikaze. Six days later several of the suicide planes broke through the screen of planes and destroyers to score hits on the carriers , , and . With slight damage, except to Intrepid, the force retired to Ulithi. Thence the force sortied, 11 December, to support amphibious operations on Mindoro, and keep Japanese air forces pinned to the ground. Next came strikes on Taiwan, followed by another return to the Philippines to support amphibious operations, this time in Lingayen Gulf. 1945 After the Luzon landings, the force stepped up its sorties into the South and East China Seas. It struck repeatedly at enemy installations from Saigon to the Ryukyus and frequently sailed northeast to raid the industrial heart of the Japanese Islands. On 19–21 February 1945 they supported the invasion of Iwo Jima and then steamed west again towards Tokyo. By 1 March they had begun an intensified raiding campaign against the Ryukyus and Japan, again preparing the way for