At the end of June 1945, the ship left Okinawan waters for San Pedro Bay in company with the destroyer escort , arriving there on 1 July. Four days later, she received a group of replacement crewmen, and after loading ammunition there, began training in preparation for the expected invasion of Kyushu, the invasion of the Japanese mainland. These operations continued through July, and on 3 August she got underway for Okinawa, arriving in Buckner Bay on 6 August. That day, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and a second was dropped on Nagasaki three days later. After these two attacks, rumors spread on 10 August that the Japanese would surrender, prompting celebrations among the crews of the ships in Okinawa, though two days later the battleship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. "West Virginia" sent a whaleboat with pumps to assist the damaged battleship.