"Kitkun Bay" wrapped-up the yard work and stood out of San Pedro with a full load of planes and carried them to Hawaiian waters (27 April–3 May 1945). The ship delivered her cargo to Pearl Harbor and into the following week cleaned-up from the repairs. In the process, yard workers at Pearl Harbor discovered that she required more work on the engines and the radar gear, which delayed her departure. "Kitkun Bay" returned to sea for a post-trial run on 3 June, during which she also carried our drills and gunnery exercises. The veteran ship slipped back into the harbor that evening to enable the navy yard to complete some engineering work. She loaded provisions and ammunition, along with the FM-2s, TBM-3s, and a single TBM-1C of VC-63, which had flown from NAS Hilo on Hawaii. The carrier then (8–13 June) took part in training exercises in the operating area west of Oahu.