1945
Through June 1945 O'Bannon operated primarily in the Philippines, serving in the escort or assault force for the long roll call of invasions: Ormoc Bay, Mindoro, Lingayen Gulf, Bataan, Corregidor, Palawan, Zamboanga, Cebu, and Caraboa. Air attacks were frequent in the early period, and O'Bannon splashed several raiders. During the Lingayen offensive on 31 January 1945, O'Bannon, with three other destroyers, attacked and sank an enemy submarine; Japanese records studied after the war indicate it was most likely RO-115. At the end of April and early in May, O'Bannon interrupted her Philippine operations to give fire support at Tarakan, Borneo, and cover minesweeping operations there.
O'Bannon rendezvoused with a group of escort carriers off Okinawa on 17 June and guarded them as they struck against Sakashima Gunto. In July, she protected the large carriers as they flew strikes on northern Honshū and Hokkaidō. With the close of the war, O'Bannon patrolled the coast of Honshū until 27 August, when she joined Nicholas (DD-449) and Taylor (DD-468) to escort Missouri (BB-63) into Tokyo Bay, by order of Admiral William Halsey, "because of their valorous fight up the long road from the South Pacific to the very end." There, she patrolled until 1 September. She then sailed to San Francisco and San Diego, where she was decommissioned after overhaul on 21 May 1946.
Read more about this topic: USS O'Bannon (DD-450)