 "Van Valkenburgh" trained in Hawaiian waters through the end of December 1944 and, after a tender availability alongside , headed for the western Pacific and her first combat operation, departing Pearl Harbor on 27 January 1945.After touching at Eniwetok en route, the destroyer reached Saipan in the Mariana Islands, where dress rehearsals were held for the landings slated to take place on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands.After two days of exercises at Saipan, the fleet sortied for Iwo Jima.