Atule spent December 1944 in upkeep and training, including a six-day coordinated convoy exercise with Spadefish (SS-411), Pompon (SS-267), and Jallao. On 6 January 1945, she departed Majuro in company with these same ships, Cdr. G. W. Underwood in Spadefish as group commander. En route to Saipan, “Underwood’s Urchins” conducted training dives, emergency drills, and radar tracking exercises.

After a brief stop in Tanapag Harbor alongside Fulton (AS-11) Atule headed for her patrol area in the Yellow Sea. Since Pompon and Jallao were delayed she sailed in company with Spadefish, Bang (SS-385), and Devilfish (SS-292). Prior to her arrival in the patrol area, Atule took part in a fruitless search for downed aviators. Reports of sightings of the survivors were not in agreement, and the approximate location could not be determined. The search was abandoned on 17 January 1945. Pompon joined the pack on 20 January, and, the next day, they entered the Yellow Sea. While on patrol, Atule sighted many sampans and fishing boats, but could not strike a blow at the Japanese fleet until 24 January. On that afternoon, she commenced tracking a merchant ship. At periscope depth, the target was lost in a snow squall, so Atule came to radar depth to regain contact, closed for a stern shot, and fired four torpedoes. Two hit their marks-one abreast the stack, the second near the aftermast. The ship, a new 6,888-ton freighter, settled rapidly by the stern. The crew hastily abandoned the ship in time to see the stern break off and disappear. The forward section of the ship bobbed like a cork, so Atule surfaced to finish off the freighter with gunfire. The freighter returned fire, and the submarine fired another torpedo which missed the target. Atule retired to await nightfall, when she again failed to sink the hulk with gunfire. She loosed another torpedo, which hit amidships, and the freighter began settling by the bow. Atule left the empty hulk in a vertical position with the midship section high in the air. After the war her victim was identified as Taiman Maru No. 1.

Atule was assigned to patrol in the northern part of the Yellow Sea. The seas were heavy, and the snow and wind combined to create blizzard conditions. After four days, she shifted to the southwest corner of the sea between Korea and China. On 27 January, Pompon reported a convoy contact and, together with Spadefish, attacked. Atule was too distant to join in, but heard several explosions. Early the next day, she gained contact on a medium transport trying to escape the area of the attack of the previous day, and she gave chase until shoal water and the presence of an enemy escort forced her to veer off.

Floating mines became Atule’s new targets. During the rest of her patrol, she sighted 29 mines, 23 of which she sank by gunfire, and one which bounced harmlessly down the submarine’s side. Atule patrolled the Chinese and Korean coastlines and traffic lanes until 22 February, when she headed for Saipan where she once again moored alongside Fulton. On 28 February 1945 she left Tanapag Harbor bound for Midway, where she moored on the 7th of March.