History
Following a Cuban shakedown cruise, Mervine reported for duty with the Gulf Sea Frontier at New Orleans, 30 August 1942. Assigned to escort work, she accompanied merchantmen as they plied the Gulf and West Indian shipping lanes, which during the preceding months had gained the dubious distinction of suffering the heaviest losses to U-boat activity in the eastern Atlantic.
In October Mervine left the gulf and steamed to Norfolk where she Joined Task Force 34 (TF 34) and sailed east. Toward midnight on 7 November she arrived off Safi, Morocco, and took up her station for Operation TORCH the invasion of North Africa. During the landings on the 8th, she acted as control vessel and provided fire support for the assault forces on Red Beach, north of Safi. She remained on patrol in the area for the next five days and then returned to New York. There she resumed escort assignments and for the next seven months guarded coastal and transatlantic convoys.
On 8 June 1943 Mervine departed with TF 65 for North Africa. Arriving at Mers-el-Kebir on the 22nd, she joined TF 85 and on 5 July departed for Sicily and Operation HUSKY. From the 10th through the 13th, she cruised off Scoglitti and along the coast of the Camerina Plain, providing fire support for the 7th Army's assault troops. She then returned to escort work in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
Read more about this topic: USS Mervine (DD-489)
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