Six days later, she sailed again, steaming via Manus for Hollandia, escorting the same task group as planes from the flattops pounded the New Guinea coast to support landings by General Douglas MacArthur's troops.

For the next two months, except for a brief voyage to Eniwetok, she remained there, screening the escort carriers providing air support for the invasion and also operating as a rescue ship for downed aviators.

Sailing to Eniwetok on 22 August, Longshaw departed on the 29th to guard the carriers of Task Group 38.3 (TG 38.3) during strikes against targets on Palau, Mindanao, and Luzon in support of the assault on the Palaus, the steppingstone to the Philippines.

The fast carriers continued their operations in support of the invasion of Leyte, hitting the Philippines airfields steadily until the night of 24 October, when the mighty armada turned northward to engage the Japanese northern force the next day in the Battle off Cape Engaño.

For the next 10 days, TF 38 operated unchecked, launching attacks at Japanese installations in French Indochina, Formosa, and the China coast, including Hong Kong and Hainan.

Returning to Ulithi 12 March, the destroyer joined Task Force 54 (TF 54), which stood out for Okinawa on the 21st, escorting the support and bombardment unit for the invasion.

On call for naval gunfire support day or night, Longshaw remained continuously on station supplying her much needed firepower, despite steady attacks by Japanese suicide planes.

On the morning of 18 May 1945, following a four-day period of fire support, Longshaw, en route to her patrol area, ran aground on a coral reef just south of Naha airfield, at 0719.

At 1105, all hands on the bridge were killed, injured, or stunned; the Longshaw's skipper, Lieutenant Commander Clarence William Becker, was reportedly there, mortally wounded,[3] along with Radioman Zikus of the Arikara.