Hale returned to Eniwetok 4 August 1944, and departed 6 days later for assault and support operations in Hawaiian waters preparatory to the Leyte landings.

Hale entered Leyte Gulf early 20 October and helped troop units take Dulag airfield by providing accurate fire support.

Sailing to Ulithi, she departed 14 March with Rear Admiral Forrest Sherman's Essex (CV-9) carrier task force to attack enemy air installations prior to the landings on Okinawa.

Departing the seas off Japan proper, the carrier force screened by Hale and other destroyers turned to Okinawa, flying close support and bombardment missions before, during, and after the initial assault 1 April.

The veteran destroyer departed Okinawa 11 April and after stops at Ulithi and Guam arrived Leyte Gulf in the screen of South Dakota (BB-57) 1 June 1945.

She then escorted Washington (BB-56) to Guam and met tug Munsee (AT-107), towing the bow section of cruiser Pittsburgh (CA-72), torn off in the great typhoon off Okinawa, and brought her to Apra Harbor.

Hale departed as a unit of Admiral Marc Mitscher's famed Task Force 38, 1 July 1945, bound for crippling strike against Japan itself.

As the war against Japan ended 15 August, Hale tool up duties as air-sea rescue ship offshore during the landing of occupation forces.

Hale continued her vital pattern of readiness exercises including serving as the Destroyer Force Gunnery School Ship at Newport, until 6 November 1956.

In June Hale participated in one of the greatest international naval reviews in history, joining some 60 U.S. ships and vessels of 17 other nations in the 350th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.

She began her second world cruise 23 July 1958, sailing to Naples, through the Suez Canal to India and Japan, and back to San Diego after operations with the 7th Fleet off Taiwan.