On 12 October 1944, "West Virginia" and the rest of the fleet sortied to begin the invasion of the Philippines, starting with the island of Leyte. "West Virginia" was assigned to Task Group (TG) 77.2, the shore bombardment force for the operation that was commanded by Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf. While en route later that day, "West Virginia" steamed astern of "California" and the latter vessel's paravanes cut the anchor chain for a naval mine, forcing "West Virginia" to steer around it; gunfire from a nearby destroyer detonated the mine safely. The invasion fleet arrived in San Pedro Bay early on 19 October and at 07:00, "West Virginia" and the rest of TG 77.2 moved into their bombardment positions. They opened fire on targets around Tacloban, shelling Japanese positions and providing covering fire for the Underwater Demolition Teams that were preparing the invasion beaches for much of the day before withdrawing that evening. In the course of the day's bombardment, she fired a total of 278 shells from her main battery and 1,586 rounds from her secondary guns.