Fast Carrier Task Force
After shakedown in the Caribbean, "Haynsworth" departed New York on 20 September 1944 escorting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill on board. Rendezvousing with British escorts, she returned to New York and sailed on 26 September via the Panama Canal Zone and San Pedro, arriving Pearl Harbor on 20 October. "Haynsworth" sailed on 16 December for Ulithi and joined Vice Admiral John McCain's Fast Carrier Task Force 38 for the final assaults on the Japanese. During the next three months, she operated with the 3rd and 5th Fleets as part of the screen for the Fast Carrier Task Force. Their primary mission was to conduct air strikes against strategic Japanese positions along the China coast, and Formosa, and to harass enemy shipping during the landings at Luzon on 9 January 1945.