"Wedderburn" reentered the lagoon at Eniwetok on 14 August. There, she was reassigned to the antisubmarine screen of a fast carrier task group, TG 38.2, built around "Intrepid" (CV-11), "Hancock" (CV-19), "Bunker Hill" (CV-17), "Cabot" (CVL-28), and "Independence" (CVL-22). She sailed from Eniwetok on 29 August in company with the entire fast carrier task force (TF 38) to conduct a major sweep of Japanese-held islands including the Philippines, the Palaus, and Yap Island. "Wedderburn" screened the carrier from enemy submarine attacks while they sent their planes against targets on Mindanao and Leyte and, later, the Visayas sub-group. They also provided initial aerial bombardment for the Palau invasion and for the Morotai operation. Those missions took up almost the entire month of September, and the destroyer did not enter a "port" until the 28th when TG 38.2 arrived at Saipan. On 1 October, she and TG 38.2 moved on to recently captured Ulithi where the ships arrived the next day. "Wedderburn", however, soon returned to sea. Task Force 38 rendezvoused about 375 miles west of the Marianas on 7 October to open the preliminaries to the invasion of Leyte. "Wedderburn" continued her antisubmarine vigil while the carriers she protected launched their aircraft first against Okinawa, then Formosa, and finally Philippine targets, striking enemy air bases on Luzon and the Visayas to give the United States dominance in the air over Leyte when the invasion began on 20 October.