Three days later she got underway for Pearl Harbor for antiaircraft and shore bombardment exercises until the 23rd, when she sailed on escort duty to Guadalcanal and Ulithi, the staging area for the Okinawa invasion.

Drexler departed Ulithi 27 March 1945 bound for Okinawa and duty on a radar picket station.

The second tried to crash onto Lowry but missed, hitting Drexler instead and cutting off all power and starting large gasoline fires.

Despite the heavy damage, she kept firing, aiding in shooting down two planes which attacked immediately after the crash.

At 07:03 she was hit by another aircraft, a twin-engined "Frances" P1Y1 bomber, and the impact rolled her on to her beam ends, causing her to sink in less than 50 seconds[check quotation syntax]"[2] at 27°6′N 127°38′E / 27.100°N 127.633°E / 27.100; 127.633.