August 1944, she was underway to the South Pacific for duty in the Solomon and New Hebrides Islands. That assignment lasted until February 1945 when she headed for the Marianas and service in support of the U.S. 5th Fleet. She arrived at Saipan on 11 February 1945 and remained there until sailing for the invasion of the Ryūkyūs assigned to the Western Islands Attack Group, Task Group (TG) 51.1, during the third week in March 1945. Attached to the force to conquer Kerama Retto for use as a forward base, she moved into that anchorage almost a week before the initial assault on Okinawa on 1 April 1945 and remained there until mid-May, supporting the forces afloat around the island. She towed several battle-damaged and kamikaze-crashed ships to safety. One of these vessels, , was crashed into by a kamikaze on 1 April 1945 during a feigned landing operation along the island's southern coast. At mid-May 1945, the fleet tugboat concluded her six-week tour of duty at the Okinawa inferno and set course, via Guam, for Ulithi where she arrived on 24 May 1945. On 7 June 1945, she stood out of Ulithi for a month of duty at Leyte which ended on 18 July 1945 and departed for the Marshalls. She arrived at Eniwetok on 24 July 1945 and remained until the beginning of the second week in September 1934. She then sailed to the Philippines for occupation duty in Japan. Post-war operations Arriving in Tokyo Bay on 18 September 1945, she provided support services for American forces in Japan until the first week in April 1946. On 5 April 1946, the tug left Japan, bound for Hawaii. She arrived at Oahu on 18 April 1945 and remained there until 26 August 1946, when she headed back to the Far East. She arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, on 10 September 1946 and resumed duty with American occupation forces in Asia. Over the next six months, she provided towing services in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, China, and the Ryūkyūs. Yuma left the Far East again in May 1947, departing from Samar in the Philippines. She stopped at Pearl Harbor briefly in June 1947 and continued on to San Francisco, California, where she arrived on 10 June 1947. In July 1947, the tug voyaged to Pearl Harbor before returning to the west coast at Puget Sound on 28 July 1947. From that