for any Luftwaffe aircraft, she did succeed in destroying an enemy railroad battery with gunfire. By mid-August, with Sicily secured, she began preparations for the landings on the Italian mainland at Salerno. For that invasion, the destroyer was assigned to the Southern Attack Force fire support group which consisted of five cruisers – four American and one British – and the four destroyers of Woolseys DesRon 13. In that capacity, she supported the landings on the southern sector of the Gulf of Salerno shoreline. During the assault on 9 September, however, she received only one call for fire support. That event occurred just after 16:30 when her shore fire control party called upon her to join in shooting up an enemy tank formation. After completing her mission at Salerno the next day, Woolsey returned to more routine missions. She made voyages between Naples and North African ports escorting supply echelons to the expanding Italian campaign. While operating outside Oran, Algeria, on 16 December, she encountered . After forcing the U-boat to surface with a full pattern of depth charges, Woolseys gunners went to work and completed the destruction of U-73. The destroyer rescued and made prisoners 23 of the U-boat's survivors. Late in January 1944, the destroyer returned to amphibious operations, this time as a unit of the Fire Support Group for the Anzio landings. Arriving off the beachhead on 22 January 1944, she delivered call fire support for the troops as they landed. The relative ease experienced during the opening phase at Anzio however, belied the actual complexion of the campaign. Failing to break out of the beachhead early, the Army forces were soon surrounded on three sides by German forces which threatened to push them into the sea until a link-up was made with the Salerno forces in May. During the first month of the battle Woolsey provided gunfire support for the troops ashore. Late in February, however, she departed the Italian campaign to return to the United States for necessary repairs. After a stop at Gibraltar on 11 February, she headed via Horta, Azores to Boston, Massachusetts, where she arrived on 25 February. Completing her repairs at Boston in mid-March, she conducted refresher training at Casco Bay, Maine, before heading back to the Mediterranean at the end of the third week in April. She stopped at Gibraltar on the last day of that month and arrived at