At 0330 on 26 March 1945, "Bunch" went to general quarters and proceeded into Transport Area "Easy," five miles west of Kube Shima in the Kerama Retto group of the Ryukyus. Detached at 0500, she and "Hopping" escorted the attack transport to her rendezvous with the control boat, "SC-1328", in Area "Jig." Relieved of that task at 0600, the pair took up screening stations in the transport area and spent the remainder of the day screening the troopships. That night, she experienced a couple of desultory air attacks. At 0130 on the 27th, "Bunch" fired on a single enemy plane, which soon disappeared out of range. Securing from battle stations at 0210, the high-speed transport nevertheless remained on the alert. At 0338, she opened fire with her 40-millimeter battery on another intruder approaching on the port quarter. Although the ship went to general quarters, no attack developed, and she stood down at 0400.