She and were assigned as fire support ships for the landings at Licata, Sicily. On 10 July, the night before the landings, she collided with Roe while investigating radar contacts and went dead in the water with a flooded fire room. She was able to control further flooding and retired to Malta for temporary repairs before proceeding to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in July. Convoys escorted Pacific Theater With repairs complete, Swanson resumed escort duties in the Atlantic until sailing on 7 January 1944 to join the 7th Fleet off New Guinea. She provided gunfire support for landings in Seeadler Harbor between 3 and 7 March. She then acted as command ship for the Hollandia landings on 22 April, with both US Army and Navy commanders on board. After providing gunfire support during the Noemfoor assault on 2 July, she acted as command ship for the Sansapor landings on 30 July. On 19 August 1944, the destroyer left New Guinea and joined Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38). She screened the carriers , , and , while they launched airstrikes on Bonins, Ulithi, Yap, Palau, Okinawa, Taiwan, and while they provided air support for the Philippine landings on 20 October. As the Japanese launched a three-pronged naval attack on the United States forces at Leyte, Swansons task group first assisted in turning back the Japanese central force in San Bernardino Strait during the day of 24 and then moved north to intercept a Japanese decoy force of carriers off Cape Engaño, Luzon. Air-sea rescue duty On 26 October, Swanson was detached from the carrier force and assigned to the escort patrol group based at Saipan. For the rest of 1944 and early 1945, she was engaged in air-sea rescue, antisubmarine, and radar picket patrols between Iwo Jima and Saipan and served as the headquarters for the commander of the group. She was detached in April 1945 for overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. After refresher training at San Diego, California, Swanson resumed her patrol and escort duties around Iwo Jima. Decommissioning On 9 September 1945, USS Swanson began the trip back to the United States for inactivation. The destroyer was decommissioned on 10 December 1945 and placed in reserve at Charleston, South Carolina. She was stricken from the Navy list on 1 March 1971 and scrapped in 1972. Awards Swanson received eight battle stars for her service. Algeria-Morocco landings