After shakedown
Killen cleared
Port Angeles, Wash. on 19 August 1944, escorted a
convoy from
Pearl Harbor and arrived at
Manus,
Admiralty Islands on 14 September. Following training exercises the destroyer departed
Hollandia on 12 October with the Central Philippine Attack Force that arrived off
San Pedro Bay on the 20th. For the next 5 days she gave day and night fire support to troops ashore
on Leyte, and during one 30-minute period on the 21st silenced three enemy
artillery positions. When the
Japanese Navy decided to contest the landings in the
Battle of Leyte Gulf,
Killen squadron engaged the enemy
at Surigao Strait. On the morning of 25 October, at 03:25, she launched five
torpedoes toward
battleship Yamashiro. One hit, slowing her to , enabled other American destroyers to maneuver for the kill. In the widespread fleet actions for
Leyte, covering hundreds of thousands of nautical miles, the U.S. Fleet reduced the Japanese Fleet to an ineffective force thus greatly speeding up the advance toward Japan and end of the war.
Killen resumed antiaircraft screen. While on patrol off Leyte on 1 November she was attacked by seven enemy aircraft. The destroyer splashed four raiders before a bomb from one of the attackers found its mark in
Killen port side, killing 15. After temporary repairs at San Pedro Bay and Manus, she steamed into
Hunter's Point, Calif., on 15 January 1945, for overhaul. Returning to Manus on 9 May, the destroyer sailed the next day for convoy escort and patrol duty in the
Philippines. Killen formed part of the screen for the
cruiser USS Nashville carrying General
Douglas MacArthur to nearly every island in the chain to give his "I have returned" speech. Lacking the propulsion system necessary to operate with the fast carriers around
Okinawa,
Killen was kept in the south with the cruiser fleet. She steamed into
Brunei Bay,
Borneo, on 10 June with
the assault forces, and supported the troops with prelanding bombardment. She resumed exercises on 15 June before arriving
off Balikpapan, Borneo, on 27 June for fire support missions. After silencing enemy shore batteries on Borneo,
Killen prepared for the final phase of the Pacific war as she arrived
Manila on 14 July. She cleared that port 2 weeks later, and joined the
North Pacific Force in the
Aleutian Islands. Upon the cessation of hostilities the destroyer was assigned to the occupation forces in the Japanese islands. Departing
Adak on 31 August,
Killen took up station at
Ominato in northern
Honshū, and supported the occupation forces until 14 November, when she sailed to
Puget Sound. From there she proceeded to
San Diego, arriving on 2 April, and decommissioning on 9 July 1946. == Target ship ==