1943
Schroeder provided escort for two separate aircraft carriers making shakedown cruises to the Caribbean and a convoy of merchant ships bound for Casablanca before steaming to the Pacific.
After an overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard, she steamed west and joined Destroyer Squadron 25 (DesRon 25) at Pearl Harbor on 28 July 1943. Schroeder assisted in screening the carrier task force which attacked Marcus Island on 1 September. While bombarding Wake Island early the next month, she was taken under fire for the first time but suffered no casualties.
After the Wake Island bombardment, Schroeder sailed to the New Hebrides Islands for training with amphibious forces. In early November, she joined the Gilbert Islands invasion force. On the morning of 20 November, Schroeder was in the bombardment group that shelled the eastern coast of Tarawa Atoll. She entered the lagoon early the next morning to provide fire support for the Marines landing on Tarawa. In addition to fire support, the DD also acted as a first aid ship for wounded Marines. Schroeder departed Tarawa on the 24th for Pearl Harbor for repairs, as she had damaged her screws on a coral reef in the lagoon.
Read more about this topic: USS Schroeder (DD-501)