She arrived in Ulithi lagoon on 8 February and became a unit of Task Group (TG) 58.1. The aircraft carrier remained at Ulithi only two days, departing the atoll with TG 58.1 on the 10th to make air attacks on the Japanese home islands in support of the landings on Iwo Jima. Task Force 58 steamed first to the vicinity of the Marianas to conduct rehearsals over Tinian before heading north. After the air groups carried out the training sorties on 12 February, the ships fueled at sea on the 14th and then headed toward the launching point some 200 km southeast of Tokyo. On the 16th, TF 58 launched its air strikes on Japan proper. "Bennington" aviators went after targets both at Tokyo and at Yokosuka, site of the large Japanese naval base. While their colleagues pounded Japan, pilots in "Bennington"s Combat Air Patrol (CAP) helped to protect TG 58.1 from air raids and shot down three intruders. On the negative side, her air group lost one plane to antiaircraft fire over Japan.