World War II North Africa Operations
On 6 October 1942, USS Weehawken moved to Bayonne, New Jersey, and, two days later, to Tompkinsville, New York. On the 10th, she departed the latter port for the Naval Mine Depot at Yorktown, Virginia. She arrived in Yorktown the following day and began drills and exercises in the lower Chesapeake Bay. The minelayer stood out of the Chesapeake Bay on 5 November, bound for New York, and arrived at Brooklyn, New York, the following day. A week later, she put to sea with Mine Division (MinDiv) 50 and a convoy headed for French Morocco.
The minelayer dropped anchor in Casablanca harbor on 1 December. She remained in port until the 27th when she left to lay a defensive minefield off Casablanca. Weehawken returned to port that evening and then repeated the procedure the following day. On New Year's Eve, the Luftwaffe ushered in 1943 by subjecting Casablanca and the ships assembled there to a night of intermittent air raids. Fortunately, Weehawken suffered no damage during those raids and during the encore performed the following evening. Between 6 and 10 January, she made a round-trip voyage to Gibraltar and back to deliver minelaying equipment. Upon her return, the warship remained at Casablanca until 20 January, when she sailed for New York.
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