On 23 March, "Indiana" steamed to Okinawa to join the preparatory bombardment of the island. She fired 180 main battery shells the next day and then rejoined the fleet. She resumed her air defense role for the next several days while the carriers launched raids on the island. For much of April, "Indiana" and the rest of TG 58.1 provided support to the marines and soldiers fighting in the Battle of Okinawa. On 7 April, the Japanese launched a major counter-attack on the Allied naval forces, including large-scale kamikaze strikes and Operation Ten-Go with the battleship , but they were repelled with heavy losses. The kamikaze raids continued throughout the month, and on 12 April two fighters—a Mitsubishi A6M Zero and a Nakajima Ki-43—attempted to crash into "Indiana", but her heavy anti-aircraft fire shot both down before they could strike her, though a fragment from one of the kamikazes struck a marine aboard the ship. Two days later, she shot down three more Ki-43s. She accidentally opened fire on a pair of American Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters on 15 April, but did not damage them. Later that day, she met wth replenishment oilers to refuel.