The battered destroyer slowly made her way back to Kerama Retto. She remained there until 5 July when she moved to Buckner Bay to enter a floating drydock. The ship left drydock on 13 August and was sufficiently seaworthy for the long trip back to the United States, even though only her port shaft was in commission. "Stormes" stood out of Buckner Bay on 17 August and steamed, via Saipan, Eniwetok, and Pearl Harbor, to San Francisco. She arrived at Hunters Point on 17 September and began a three-month overhaul.