Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Bayan shakedown daga Bermuda, "Richard P. Leary" ya tashi ta hanyar Canal na Panama zuwa Pearl Harbor. Bayan aikin kulawa zuwa Eniwetok da Saipan a watan Yuli, ta goyi bayan saukowa a Peleliu ranar 15 ga Satumba, 1944, kuma a Leyte.
20 ga watan Oktoba. A lokacin yakin Surigao Strait a ranar 25 ga Oktoba, ta kaddamar da torpedoes a kan jirgin yakin Japan, ya zubar da jirgin sama guda daya, kuma ya kare mai hallaka. Yayin da yake sintiri a bakin tekun Leyte a ranar 1 ga Nuwamba, ta ceci rayuka 70 na jirgin ruwa.