days later, she (as one of nine escorts) sortied with a 10-ship convoy bound for Ulithi and Kossol Roads. Detached on 9 March, she escorted the merchantman SS Westward Ho to Kossol Roads, and, two days later, departed the Palaus and proceeded to the Philippines in company with the landing ship and Westward Ho, reaching Rizal, Leyte, on 13 March. After patrolling the entrance to Leyte Gulf from 14 to 18 March, Vammen underwent an availability at San Pedro Bay alongside tender . With those repairs completed within a week's time, the destroyer escort sortied on 25 March, bound for Okinawa and her baptism of fire. Okinawa Steaming as part of the screen for Tractor Group "Easy", Vammen reached the Ryukyus on 1 April, the day of the initial landings on Okinawa. Detached from duty with Task Unit 51.14.2 (TU 51.14.2), for which the ship's commanding officer had been screen commander, Vammen was assigned to the western half of screening station A-39. Later that day, she received orders to screen LST Group "Dog" during its night retirement. While maneuvering at 15 knots through the congested transport area under poor visibility conditions, the destroyer escort struck a heavy floating object with her bow at 21:00. A few seconds later, an explosion occurred beneath her stern, as though a depth charge had exploded under the ship. After noticing marked vibrations, Vammen reduced speed to 10 knots. Repair parties reported no evident damage, but the vibrations indicated damage to shafts or propellers. As it turned out, the ship's starboard propeller had been damaged and required replacement. Nevertheless, she completed her assigned mission proceeding to rendezvous with the LST group on its night retirement. At 06:45 the next day, she resumed her screening station, A-39, but because of her reduced speed capacity, was ordered to take station A-50. Fortunately for Vammen, she was never attacked by enemy aircraft.Vammen remained on station off Okinawa until 8 April. Due to the frequent enemy air raids, her crew spent an average of 10 to 12 hours a day at their general quarters stations, but as Commander King noted in his report of the ship's operations, "no undue fatigue or effect on morale or efficiency" resulted. Offered no opportunity to fire at enemy aircraft during her time off Okinawa, Vammen conducted two "hedgehog" attacks on suspected submarine contacts, neither with observable results. With the additional problem of a