After overhaul and training off the west coast until late February 1945, the destroyer returned to Pearl Harbor. Here she was joined by a carrier, whom she escorted to Ulithi, where "Chauncey" was assigned to mighty Task Force 58 for the preliminaries to the Okinawa operation. The force got underway 14 March for strikes on airfields on Kyūshū and shipping in the Inland Sea and at Kure and Kobe, "Chauncey" and other destroyers providing the essential screening services. Japanese retaliation came in a bombing raid on 19 March, when carrier was badly damaged but kept afloat by her crew's heroic work. "Chauncey" moved in to protect the stricken giant, and to guard her as she was towed and later steamed under her own power toward safety. Japanese air attacks were beaten off once more on the 20th and 21st, "Chauncey" firing with the others to splash many enemy planes.