Her first port availability period at Manus, Admiralty Islands, was marked on 10 November by the explosion of the an ammunition ship nearby. A week later at Ulithi, a Japanese midget submarine managed to torpedo an oiler, the , in the same anchorage. "Lyman" weighed anchor on 16 December, screening auxiliaries supporting the invasion of Lingayen Gulf, Luzon. She returned to Ulithi on 14 January 1945, but again early in February was at sea protecting a replenishment group during the capture of Iwo Jima.