Southwest Area Fleet
Repairs were completed by mid-November 1943, and "Hokaze" was assigned to the 1st Surface Escort Division of the General Escort Command. In March 1944, she escorted a convoy of transports from Yokosuka to Tsingtao in China, where she was reassigned to the IJN 9th Fleet. In April 1944, "Hokaze" was dispatched from Yokosuka for western New Guinea to join the Fourth Southern Expeditionary Fleet under the overall command of the Southwest Area Fleet. On 2 July 1944, "Hokaze" departed Ambon in the role of a “Tokyo Express” high speed armed transport to take critically needed emergency supplies to New Guinea.