World War II Atlantic Ocean Operations
After a period at Norfolk, Virginia, as training ship for crews for escorts soon to be commissioned, Fessenden carried out an escort mission to the Panama Canal Zone, returning to Norfolk 5 November 1943. Between 23 November and 18 March 1944, she escorted convoys on two voyages to Casablanca, then on 3 April sailed again to guard a convoy to Bizerte. Off Bone 20 April the convoy came under heavy air attack, one guardian destroyer being sunk, and on the homeward bound passage, the convoy screen lost two more destroyers to submarine attack. Fessenden returned safely to New York 21 May.
She sailed from Norfolk next on 12 June 1944, and escorted a convoy as far as Gibraltar, where she was detached to escort two captured Italian submarines to Bermuda. One developed engine trouble 2 July and was ordered back to Gibraltar, but Fessenden reached Bermuda with the other 16 July. Returning to New York 22 July, she was briefly overhauled, then sailed out of New London, Connecticut, training submarines from 3 August to 2 September. Next came special training off Maine, and her return to Norfolk to join the hunter-killer group formed around USS Mission Bay (CVE-59).
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