At dawn, "Monssen" resumed her patrol station and the next day departed for Hollandia, whence she screened reinforcement convoys to Leyte during November. On 9 December, she headed for Bougainville, arriving on the 12th to escort TG 79.1 (transports) to New Guinea for rehearsals of the Luzon invasion. By 21 December, she was at Manus, whence she departed on the 30th to rendezvous with Task Unit 77.9.12 (TU 77.9.12) (landing craft of the reinforcement echelon) and proceeded to the northern Philippines. She arrived in Lingayen Gulf, 11 January 1945, 2 days after the initial assault. On the 12th, she received her first taste of Japanese suicide tactics when three kamikazes closed on her transport area. The destroyer took two under fire and assisted in exploding one 100 feet short of a merchant ship. The second crashed into .