1942, Taylor worked in the Records Section of the Officer Personnel Division in the Bureau of Navigation}, with the rank of lieutenant commander from 1 July 1939. In February 1942, he assumed command of the newly commissioned destroyer , with the rank of commander from 1 August 1942. On 20 June 1942 Duncan set sail from New York, bound for the South Pacific Area. She joined Task Force 18, as part of the destroyer screen around the aircraft carrier . Wasp was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on 15 September, and so badly damaged that she had to be sunk by United States ships. Duncan collected survivors from the carrier, transferring 701 to other ships, and took 18 wounded and two dead bodies to the base hospital on Espiritu Santo, which she reached on 16 September. Taylor was issued a Letter of Commendation. On 11 October 1942 Duncan formed part of the screen of Task Force 64, protecting convoy carrying reinforcements to Guadalcanal, when a Japanese surface force was encountered. In the resulting Battle of Cape Esperance, Duncan fired torpedoes at the but was damaged by shellfire. The bridge was cut off by fire, and Taylor was forced to leave it by jumping over the side. Attempts to put out the fires and save the ship failed, and she sank on 12 October. He was awarded the Navy Cross. His citation read: Taylor received a new command, of the destroyer , which was commissioned on 9 February 1943, with the rank of captain from 20 May 1943. Bennett sailed to the South Pacific, where she supported the landings at Cape Torokina in November 1944 and on Green Islands in February 1944, and bombarded the Japanese base at Kavieng on New Ireland on 18 February 1944 and at Rabaul on New Britain 29 February. He was awarded the Bronze Star. His citation read: Taylor commanded Destroyer Division 90 from August 1943 to May 1944, participating in the Empress Augusta Bay, and Destroyer Squadron 45 from May 1944 to November 1944. He was awarded the Silver Star for the Battle of the Philippine Sea. In December 1944, he became the naval aide to the Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal. Post-war After the war, Taylor returned to Annapolis again as its head of the Department of Physical Training and Director of Athletics in My 1946. In July 1948, he became Assistant Chief