techniques. On 11 October, she departed Pearl Harbor in company with . The destroyer arrived back at Adak on 16 October and, for the next six weeks patrolled in the Aleutian Islands. New Guinea, November 1943 – September 1944 On 26 November, Ammen left Adak bound for the southwestern Pacific. She made a five-day stop at Pearl Harbor before resuming her voyage on 9 December. Steaming by way of Funafuti in the Ellice Islands and Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides, the warship arrived at Milne Bay, New Guinea, on 18 December. There, she became a unit of the 7th Fleet. For the next nine months, Ammen focused her energies on the series of operations that wrested control of the northern coast of New Guinea from the Japanese and isolated their big bases in the Bismarck Archipelago at Rabaul on New Britain and Kavieng on New Ireland. Between late December 1943 and late January 1944, Ammen supported the Allied landings at Cape Gloucester on the western end of New Britain as an element of the Cruiser Bombardment Unit under Rear Admiral V.A.C. Crutchley VC, RN. In addition to providing antisubmarine and antiaircraft protection for the larger ships, she transported casualties from the battle ashore and conducted shore bombardments. In February, the destroyer visited Sydney, Australia, returning to the New Guinea area at Milne Bay on 22 February. A week later, Ammen put to sea in the screen of an LST task unit, the first resupply echelon for the reconnaissance in force of Los Negros Island that burgeoned into the occupation of the Admiralty Islands. During the first half of March, Ammen busied herself providing gunfire support for the soldiers securing a hold on Los Negros and fighting off air attacks. Between 17 and 19 March, she joined , , , and in a fruitless anti-shipping sweep along the coast of New Guinea near enemy-held Wewak. After several weeks of upkeep at Milne Bay and training exercises in that vicinity, Ammen put to sea once again on 18 April in company with Rear Admiral Crutchley's cruiser-destroyer force to support the next hop in the leapfrog along the northern coast of New Guinea-the Aitape-Hollandia invasion. During the assault at Tanamerah Bay, the destroyer provided antisubmarine and antiaircraft protection to gunfire support ships of the force and contributed her share of call fire as well. Later, she joined the screen of Task Group