On 16 January 1944 Gatling sortied with the Fast Carrier Task Force (then Fifth Fleet's TF 58, also known as Third Fleet's TF 38) to support the forthcoming invasion of the Marshall Islands; thereafter, Gatling was continuously with the carrier task forces as they struck Japanese outposts and finally hit the heart of Japan itself.

On 24 October, after enemy bombs had sunk the light aircraft carrier Princeton in the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, Gatling rescued over 300 of the vessel's survivors.

For heroism in saving these men, four Gatling crewmen were awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and 16 others received the Bronze Star.

On 19 and 20 February, as part of Destroyer Division 99 (DesDiv 99), she escorted North Carolina and Indianapolis to Iwo Jima to support the gallant Marines who were fighting to wrest that volcanic fortress from Japan to become a base for B-29s damaged over the home islands.

Rejoining the carrier task force, Gatling aided in new strikes against Honshū and Okinawa in late February and early March.

After repairs and refresher training, Gatling escorted New Jersey and Biloxi to Eniwetok, bombarding Wake Island en route.

During her aggressive career in World War II, Gatling traveled over 175,000 miles (282,000 km) and fired 77 tons of high explosives from her guns.

Finally, these heroic exploits through two busy battle-filled years were accomplished without the loss of a single man from enemy action, sickness, or accident.

In the fall of 1952, Gatling (as a unit of the NATO forces) stood out of Newport, Rhode Island, bound for Europe; she visited Scotland, Norway, and Belgium in Operation Mainbrace.

Later she was active in Operation Springboard, calling at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands and San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the Caribbean Sea.

Her last major operations took her to Mediterranean ports of call, Pakistan and Iran, after which Gatling returned to her home base at Rhode Island 11 October 1959.