Battered By A Typhoon
Following her 14 April return to Eniwetok, the escort ship remained with TG 12.3, steaming on anti-submarine patrols east of the Marshalls. On 20 April, a typhoon upset the group's routine by grounding Corregidor's aircraft and pitching the small destroyer escorts in the heavy seas and 70-knot (130 km/h) winds. The storm finally abated three days later, and the battered task group returned to Eniwetok.
Designated Task Unit (TU) 96.6.7, Tills departed the Marshalls on 30 April and arrived at Ulithi on 3 May. Two days later, the destroyer escort rendezvoused with UOK-9 and screened that convoy to the Ryūkyūs. En route to Okinawa, Tills sighted an abandoned Japanese patrol boat and sank the vessel with gunfire and depth charges.
Dropping anchor off Hagushi Beach on 10 May, the destroyer escort got underway soon thereafter and relieved Starling (AM-64) on screening duty in the transport area. On the 12th, Tills went to general quarters upon learning that enemy aircraft had been sighted. Spotting two planes emerging from a smoke screen, her gunners opened fire with the 40-millimeter battery before a sharp-eyed lookout noted that the planes were "friendly". The Bofors guns ceased firing immediately, and the aircraft flew away undamaged.
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