On 27 January 1945, the Russell sailed north again arriving off Nasugbu Bay in the Philippines and covered the minesweepers as they cleared approach channels then fired on enemy positions. Relieve4d late in the afternoon, she returned to Lingayen Gulf and then to Leyte, Bew Guinea and the Solomons.
On 15 February she was at Guadalcanal and rejoined the 5th Fleet for Operation Iceberg, the Okinawa Invasion. On April 1 she arrived off the invasion beaches and commenced screening until May 28 when she got underway for the United States for a much-needed yard overhaul.
Still undergoing the overhaul in Seattle, Washington, when the war ended. Then on November 15, the Russell was decommissioned and struck from the Navy List thirteen days later. In September 1947, she was sold for scrap to the National Metal and Steel Corporation, Terminal Island, Los Angeles.
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During the war, the USS Russell received 16 Battle Stars, making her one of the most decorated U.S. ships of the war.
--GreGen
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