"Hancock" encountered a severe typhoon (Cobra) on 17 December 1944 and rode out the storm in waves which broke over her flight deck, some above her waterline. She put into Ulithi 24 December and got underway six days later to attack airfields and shipping around the South China Sea. Her planes struck hard blows at Luzon airfields on 7–8 January 1945 and turned their attention back to Formosa on 9 January, hitting fiercely at airfields and the Toko Seaplane Station. An enemy convoy north of Camranh Bay, Indochina was the next victim, with two ships sunk and 11 damaged. That afternoon "Hancock" launched strikes against airfields at Saigon and shipping on the northeastern bulge of French Indochina. Strikes by the fast and mobile carrier force continued through 16 January, hitting Hainan Island in the Gulf of Tonkin, the Pescadores Islands, and shipping in the harbor of Hong Kong. Raids against Formosa were resumed on 20 January. The next afternoon one of her planes returning from a sortie made a normal landing, taxied to a point abreast of the island, and disintegrated in a blinding explosion which killed 50 men and injured 75 others. Again outstanding work quickly brought the fires under control in time to land other planes which were still aloft. She returned to formation and launched strikes against Okinawa the next morning.