Following shakedown off Bermuda, "Richard P. Leary" sailed via the Panama Canal for Pearl Harbor. After escort duty to Eniwetok and Saipan in July, she supported the landings at Peleliu 15 September 1944, and at Leyte 20 October. During the Battle of Surigao Strait on 25 October, she launched torpedoes at the Japanese battleship , splashed one enemy plane, and guarded the damaged destroyer . While patrolling off Leyte Gulf on 1 November, she rescued 70 survivors of the destroyer .