In the early morning of 7 January 1945 at 430, "Chandler" detected low flying planes on her radar, and soon came under heavy fire from Japanese aircraft. Sighting accurately in the moonlit night, fire from "Chandler" and , shot down a Japanese aircraft, but only after it had launched a torpedo, which struck "Hovey" amidships, sinking her within three minutes. The explosion took 22 of her own crew and 24 survivors of "Long" and "Brooks" which "Hovey" had rescued on January 6. "Chandler" stood by, recovering 229 officers and men from the "Hovey" which included survivors of the two ships the "Hovey" had rescued. The rescue was particularly memorable as around half of the survivors recovered by the "Chandler" had been twice rescued from sinking or abandoned ships. Among "Hovey's" survivors was flag commander Wayne Rowe Loud, in charge of the entire minesweeping task force. "Chandler" remained on duty in Lingayen Gulf until 10 January, when she cleared for convoy escort operations through mid-February.