From Brooklyn, "Shea" moved on to San Francisco. Sailing with Task Group 27.3 (TG 27.3), she transited the Panama Canal, 20–22 December, and made San Francisco on the last day of 1944. Four days later, she was underway for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and 13 more days of training exercises. Another round of training complete, she steamed out of Pearl Harbor bound for Eniwetok Atoll in the western Pacific, arriving on 2 March. After 17 days in the vicinity of Eniwetok, her crew engaged in still more of the perennial training exercises. "Shea" departed for Ulithi Atoll on the first leg of her cruise into the real war at Okinawa.