14 for the Palau Islands. She arrived off Angaur in the Palaus on the morning of 15 September, and spent the next two days sweeping the approaches to the invasion beaches. The sweeps of Angaur, however, netted her no mines. On 17 September, she moved north to Kossol Roads and began screening the fleet anchorage located there against submarine attack. Soon thereafter, Zeal received orders to proceed to Ulithi Atoll. She arrived there on 21 September and began running sweeps of the lagoon. Here, Zeal finally succeeded in fulfilling the mission for which she had originally been built, sweeping eight mines during the anchorage clearing operation. She remained at Ulithi until 25 September at which time she departed the atoll in company with a convoy of LST's bound for Hollandia, New Guinea, where she made a brief stop on 29 September. From there, the ship continued on to Finschhafen and thence to Seeadler Harbor on Manus Island, where she arrived on 2 October. Supporting Leyte Gulf operations Zeal remained at Manus for eight days. On 10 October, she got underway with a convoy of minecraft, bound for Leyte Gulf. During the first few days of the transit, weather caused no problems; but, during the latter part, it steadily worsened. By the time Zeal arrived in Leyte Gulf, a storm approaching typhoon proportions had worked itself up. On 17 October, the minesweeper began the preinvasion sweep of the Leyte assault beaches on schedule. The storm, however, reached the typhoon stage at that point and forced her to retire from the area. Under attack by enemy planes The typhoon abated that evening; and, on the morning of 18 October, Zeal returned to resume her sweep. That day brought the warship her first contact with the Japanese. After she had cut a few moored mines, a "Val" dive-bomber flew over and dropped two bombs which missed nearby by about 200 yards. The Japanese plane made its attack and retired before any gun crews could man their battle stations. Over the next few days, Zeal sighted several enemy planes; but the attack on the 18th remained her only close contact with the enemy until after she completed her minesweeping chores on 23 October and moved farther into the gulf near Dulag to join the fire support group there. During her stay in the gulf, Zeal missed the Battle for Leyte Gulf but participated in