other minesweepers conducted sweeps. Then, after the assault on 19 February, she remained in the area on the "ping line" to give advance warning of air attack or submarines. On 8 March, she cleared Iwo Jima for Ulithi Atoll in the Carolines, arriving on 10 March and remaining until the 19th. On 25 March, Skirmish arrived off Okinawa, the major island of the Ryukyus, and commenced sweeping the waters around the island. During the evening of the following day, an enemy "Betty" swooped in on her port side, firing as it closed. Up went the cry, "Action to port," as all guns blazed away at the intruder. As the twin-engine bomber passed over her bow, Skirmish's fusillade ripped into its engines, causing a storm of parts to rain down on her forecastle deck. The "Betty" continued across the bow and splashed to starboard. The minesweeper continued to patrol and sweep around Okinawa until 8 July, putting into port periodically at either Buckner Bay or Kerama Retto. From 26 March on, action was not so close as on that date, but Skirmish's crew continued to fight off air attacks and sweep mines. She suffered her only casualty of the war at Okinawa on 2 April, when a dud crashed into a 20 millimeter gun mount, demolishing it and killing one sailor. On 8 July, Skirmish sailed from Okinawa for San Pedro Bay area of Leyte Gulf. She was still at Leyte on 10 August when the news of the Japanese surrender offer came. The whole bay exploded into one gigantic 4th-of-July celebration - searchlights blazing, sirens screaming and fireworks going off everywhere. By the 18th, everyone settled down with the realization that there was much to be done in spite of the cessation of hostilities. Accordingly, Skirmish got underway with the other minesweepers on 18 August to return to Buckner Bay. She stayed at Okinawa for a week and a day, from 22 to 30 August, then departed to sweep the Yellow Sea in support of the Korea occupation forces. From 1 to 7 September, she swept in the area of the Korean coast then headed for Sasebo, Japan, where she swept the approaches to Sasebo and Nagasaki. During the ensuing three months she continued operations around Kyūshū, departing that area once to sweep a shallow field in the Tsushima Strait. On 11 December, Skirmish hoisted her homeward bound pennant and