"Barber" remained at Guam until 21 July when she sailed for Ulithi escorting escort carrier . She continued on to Leyte Gulf where she screened battleships and on 8, 9 and 10 August and then returned to Leyte to await further orders. While there, the news of Japan's capitulation reached "Barber" and she headed for Okinawa escorting "Mississippi" and her sistership . Arriving on 21 August, she departed the next day for a brief visit to Manila Bay. On 2 September, the fast transport commenced three weeks of duty in Subic Bay, at the conclusion of which she moved to Lingayen Gulf to join Transport Division (TransDiv) 20. From there, she led a procession of 20 transports for occupation duty. The group entered Wakanoura Bay at Honshū on 7 October and passed three slow weeks while minesweepers cleared a channel to Nagoya. Finally, TransDiv 20 was able to enter the channel safely while "Barber" remained behind to control the harbor entrance. The crew of the "Barber" went ashore in the city of Nagasaki, which had been destroyed by the second atomic bomb making each member of the crew an "atomic" veteran.