"Hutchins" departed the bleak northern Pacific 18 November 1943 for the steaming and bitterly contested coast of New Guinea. She arrived Milne Bay 19 December and soon afterward screened LSTs during the landings at Cape Gloucester. Designed to secure the important straits between New Britain and New Guinea, the landings began 26 December. "Hutchins" and the other screening vessels came under severe air attack in the days that followed, with "Hutchins" downing one aircraft and assisting with another. After escorting a support convoy to Cape Gloucester from Buna on mainland New Guinea, the destroyer steamed with another LST group to Saidor, farther up the coast of New Guinea. During a rain squall she collided with another destroyer in the congested assault area, and was forced to steam to Cairns, Australia 16 January 1944 for bow repairs.