Getting underway in her new guise on 26 October 1944 and heading for Norfolk, "Bull" carried out her shakedown training in the Chesapeake Bay region under the aegis of the Amphibious Training Forces, Atlantic Fleet. After clearing the Virginia Capes on 7 November, the warship transited the Panama Canal on 13 November and proceeded — via San Diego and San Pedro, California — to Pearl Harbor. There, she embarked Underwater Demolition Team-14 (UDT-14) on 7 December and sailed four days later, via Eniwetok and Ulithi, to the Palaus, the staging area for the invasion of Luzon. "Bull" sortied on New Year's Day 1945 with the beach demolition group. Proceeding via the Surigao Strait, Mindanao Sea, and the South China Sea to Lingayen Gulf, the fast transport and her companions suffered nearly continuous attacks by Japanese kamikaze planes bent on destroying themselves and their targets. On "S 2" day, "Bull" provided fire support for the reconnaissance of the San Fabian sector of Lingayen Gulf, earning praise from the commander of her embarked UDT for her "excellent and accurate" gunfire that kept enemy fire to a minimum. During her time in Lingayen Gulf, "Bull" experienced some "close shaves". On one occasion, antiaircraft fire slapped down a suicider bent on crashing her just short of her side. Another time, a bomb landed less than away on her starboard quarter.