1943
The destroyer got underway on 26 March for a shakedown training out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and arrived back in Boston on 27 April for a tender availability. She then headed for Norfolk, Va., but departed Hampton Roads on 10 May, bound for the Pacific. After transiting the Panama Canal, Anthony joined the Pacific Fleet and arrived in Pearl Harbor on 31 May.
Two months of intensive training for the destroyer ensued. She left Hawaiian waters on 5 August in the screen of a convoy bound, via Pago Pago, Samoa, for Efate Island, New Hebrides. Anthony dropped anchor off Efate on 27 August.
Her next several weeks were devoted to more training exercises. Then, late in October, Anthony was among the destroyers escorting troop transports to the Solomon Islands for landings on Bougainville. She took part in a preinvasion bombardment and stood by while marines landed on the beaches of Empress Augusta Bay on 1 November. The destroyers pulled into Purvis Bay, Florida Island, on the 3rd. However, she returned to Bougainville on 8 November to reinforce American naval forces off that island. Despite numerous air attacks, Anthony emerged unscathed from covering the transports during their successful unloading. She pulled into Tulagi on 15 November and soon began escorting ships carrying troops and supplies to various points in the Solomon Islands.
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