USS Swanson

In October 1942, after amphibious training in Chesapeake Bay, Swanson joined the invasion fleet sailing for French North Africa. In the early morning of 8 November 1942, she lay close inshore to guide the landing craft to the beach at Fedhala. As she began to move further offshore at daybreak, the French shore batteries opened fire and, for the next two hours, Swanson returned fire to protect the transports.

Shortly after 08:00, seven French destroyers sortied from Casablanca to attack the transports and opened fire on the nearest ships, destroyers Ludlow, Wilkes and Swanson. Ludlow was hit and withdrew. Swanson and Wilkes were join by cruisers Augusta and Brooklyn, which were steaming up to engage the French.

The covering force, led by battleship Massachusetts, took over the action from the Augusta group; but, at 10:00, Swanson was once again in action, engaging three French destroyers and the shore batteries before being ordered seaward to protect the convoy.

German U-boats had not been present during the landings but, on 11 November 1942, U-130 and U-173 arrived and sank four transports, damaged a destroyer and a tanker. On 16 November, the destroyer Woolsey gained sonar contact; and, after making several attacks which brought up oil and air bubbles, turned the contact over to Swanson and Quick, which made further attacks. The contact was evaluated at that time as a wreck but subsequent information revealed that it was U-173, destroyed at (33°40′N 7°35′W) with all hands.[1]

After the Casablanca landings, Swanson returned to Atlantic convoy duty until July 1943, when she joined the Sicily invasion force. She and Roe were assigned as fire support ships for the landings at Licata, Sicily. On 10 July, the night before the landings, she collided with Roe while investigating radar contacts and went dead in the water with a flooded fire room. She was able to control further flooding and retired to Malta for temporary repairs before proceeding to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in July.

With repairs complete, Swanson resumed escort duties in the Atlantic until sailing on 7 January 1944 to join the 7th Fleet off New Guinea. She provided gunfire support for landings in Seeadler Harbor between 3 and 7 March. She then acted as command ship for the Hollandia landings on 22 April, with both US Army and Navy commanders on board. After providing gunfire support during the Noemfoor assault on 2 July, she acted as command ship for the Sansapor landings on 30 July.

On 19 August 1944, the destroyer left New Guinea and joined Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38). She screened the carriers Franklin, Enterprise, and San Jacinto, while they launched airstrikes on Bonins, Ulithi, Yap, Palau, Okinawa, Taiwan, and while they provided air support for the Philippine landings on 20 October. As the Japanese launched a three-pronged naval attack on the United States forces at Leyte, Swanson's task group first assisted in turning back the Japanese central force in San Bernardino Strait during the day of 24 and then moved north to intercept a Japanese decoy force of carriers off Cape Engaño, Luzon.

On 26 October, Swanson was detached from the carrier force and assigned to the escort patrol group based at Saipan. For the rest of 1944 and early 1945, she was engaged in air-sea rescue, antisubmarine, and radar picket patrols between Iwo Jima and Saipan and served as the headquarters for the commander of the group. She was detached in April 1945 for overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. After refresher training at San Diego, California, Swanson resumed her patrol and escort duties around Iwo Jima.

On 9 September 1945, USS Swanson began the trip back to the United States for inactivation. The destroyer was decommissioned on 10 December 1945 and placed in reserve at Charleston, South Carolina. She was stricken from the Navy list on 1 March 1971 and scrapped in 1972.