The next day, Skate closed to within 5,000 yards (4,600 m) of the beach, in the face of heavy enemy bombardment, to rescue two downed aviators.

On 25 November, she sighted the masts of five warships; but, after firing a spread of torpedoes at overlapping aircraft carriers, she was forced down by depth charging from the escort ships.

[8] Skate's third war patrol was again conducted in the area of the Carolines, in support of Operation Hailstone, the carrier airstrikes on Truk.

On 16 February, the evening before the airstrike, Skate intercepted a Japanese light cruiser, which had survived a previous torpedo attack by submarine Scamp.

Skate launched four torpedoes, two of which hit, engulfing the ship in a shroud of smoke as the submarine submerged to evade heavy depth charging from the enemy escorts.

Following her return to Pearl Harbor, she got underway for a complete overhaul at Hunters Point Navy Yard, San Francisco, California.

For the next four months, she participated in training operations along the west coast, and then sailed to Pearl Harbor arriving on 9 January 1946.

On 21 May, she departed for Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, to be used as a target ship in Operation Crossroads, the atomic bomb tests.

The bomber missed Nevada and the bomb detonated above and astern of Skate, mangling the submarine's conning tower and raising the main ballast tank vents but leaving the pressure hull intact.

[10] The crew was again transferred to the transport after Skate moored on the fringe of the formation for test "Baker", which caused no further physical damage, but coated the submarine exterior with radioactive isotopes.

On 11 October, salvage vessel Clamp took Skate in tow and headed for San Francisco, and then to Mare Island Naval Shipyard where the submarine was inspected and then decommissioned on 11 December.