"Haggard" remained with the escort carrier groups through November during air operations in support of the Philippines campaign. After a brief stay at Ulithi 25 November–10 December, the destroyer joined Task Force 38 (TF 38) in support of the Luzon invasion. Then, 10–20 January 1945, Admiral William Halsey's 3d Fleet made a striking incursion into the South China Sea. With "Haggard" and other destroyers screening, the carrier groups struck Luzon, Formosa, Indochina, and the Chinese mainland destroying shipping and airfields in a memorable demonstration of mobile sea power.