helped troop units take Dulag airfield by providing accurate fire support. She then joined Rear Admiral Clifton A. F. Sprague's escort carriers 25 October after their valiant fight in the battle off Samar. The destroyer next joined escort screening units for troop reinforcements at Morotai and landed them at Tacloban, Leyte, 14 November. After another such voyage from Hollandia to Leyte in November, aiding the buildup in the Philippines, Hale sailed 24 November via New Guinea, the Marshalls, and Pearl Harbor arriving San Francisco 22 December 1944. 1945 Hale returned to the Pacific war in early 1945, arriving Pearl Harbor 25 February. Sailing to Ulithi, she departed 14 March with Rear Admiral Forrest Sherman's Essex (CV-9) carrier task force to attack enemy air installations prior to the landings on Okinawa. The group suffered casualties, including Franklin (CV-13) and Wasp (CV-18) from air attack 19–21 March as Hales gunners shot down several of the attackers. Departing the seas off Japan proper, the carrier force screened by Hale and other destroyers turned to Okinawa, flying close support and bombardment missions before, during, and after the initial assault 1 April. During the harrowing period off Okinawa Hale rescued two fighter pilots, drove off innumerable kamikaze attacks and survived a near miss during a bombing attack. The veteran destroyer departed Okinawa 11 April and after stops at Ulithi and Guam arrived Leyte Gulf in the screen of South Dakota (BB-57) 1 June 1945. She then escorted Washington (BB-56) to Guam and met tug Munsee (AT-107), towing the bow section of cruiser Pittsburgh (CA-72), torn off in the great typhoon off Okinawa, and brought her to Apra Harbor. The ship then sailed to join the 3d Fleet at Leyte Gulf 21 June. Hale departed as a unit of Admiral Marc Mitscher's famed Task Force 38, 1 July 1945, bound for crippling strike against Japan itself. Hale took part in shore bombardment of factories at Hamamatsu 29 July. As the war against Japan ended 15 August, Hale tool up duties as air-sea rescue ship offshore during the landing of occupation forces. She entered Tokyo Bay 16 September 1945, and departed 1 October for the United States carrying 100 veterans. She arrived Seattle 19 October 1945 and was placed in commission in reserve at San Diego until decommissioning 15 January 1947. 1951 – 1960 With the outbreak of the Korean War and the increase of tension throughout