For the rest of World War II, "South Dakota" operated in the Pacific mostly as a carrier escort; the only times she did not was when she received an overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard from July–August 1944, when five tanks of gunpowder for the 16-inch guns exploded on 6 May (putting the ship out of action until 1 June), and when she bombarded Okinawa (24 March 19 April), the Kamaishi Steel Works on Honshu (14 July and 9 August), and Hamamatsu on Honshū (29–30 July). "South Dakota" was present at the Surrender of Japan aboard on 2 September 1945; she left Tokyo Bay on 20 September for the west coast of the United States. The battleship set sail for Philadelphia on 3 January 1946 to be overhauled; she was designated as part of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet there in June. Decommissioned on 31 January 1947, "South Dakota" remained idle until she was from the Naval Register on 1 June 1962 and sold for scrap to the Lipsett Division of Luria Brothers and Company, Inc. on 25 October.