At the start of October, "Canberra" joined Task Force 38, which was tasked with performing air raids on Okinawa and Taiwan, in preparation for the landings at Leyte. On 13 October, an air-dropped torpedo from a Japanese aircraft hit the cruiser below her armour belt. The explosion killed 23 personnel and exposed the engineering spaces to the ocean, stalling the ship. took "Canberra" under tow for a rendezvous with the tug , which took over the tow after putting a salvage crew aboard. During the tow, the salvage officer from "Munsee" died while diving in the cruiser's flooded engine room to make temporary repairs. A week into the tow towards Ulithi, "Munsee" was joined by the War Shipping Administration leased tug "Watch Hill". It took another week for the two tugboats to bring "Canberra" to the repair ship . After temporary repairs at Manus, "Canberra" sailed under her own power to Boston Navy Yard. The cruiser was docked for repairs, which lasted from February to October 1945. The cruiser was deployed to the west coast of the United States in late 1945.