"Hutchins" returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 January 1945. Training exercises were carried out until 3 February, when she steamed toward Saipan to join a carrier force for the Iwo Jima operation. Her carrier group arrived three days before the landings to pound Japanese defenses, and continued to support the operation during February and March 1945. After the island was captured, "Hutchins" returned to Ulithi briefly before sailing on 27 March for the operation to capture Okinawa, the last step on the long island-hopping campaign towards Japan. She screened a transport group during the landings during the first four days of April, helping to repel numerous air attacks. She was assigned to gunfire support on 4 April. "Hutchins" spent the following daytime hours close to the beaches and her nights screening the larger ships during bombardment and air defense. "Hutchins" shot down several attacking planes during a large air attack on 6 April. "Hutchins" was first on the scene after the destroyer was hit, but left after just a few minutes when ordered to make way for to rescue the survivors from the stricken "Newcomb", and was under severe attack again on 12–13 April.