two months, Fitch screened Ranger as her planes attacked German forces and installations near Bodø, Norway, on 4 October, and patrolled off Spitzbergen as the men of the weather station there were relieved and resupplied. Fitch returned to Boston 3 December 1943 to resume coastal and Caribbean escort duty and to take part in hunter-killer operations in the western Atlantic until 25 April 1944, when she got underway from Norfolk for Belfast, Northern Ireland. In the great buildup for the Normandy invasion, Fitch escorted single ships and convoys between Belfast and Plymouth, England, and took part in training exercises until 6 June, when she sailed from Plymouth for the assault. Arriving off Utah Beach early in the morning of the invasion, Fitch followed the minesweepers through the newly swept channels to within 2,000 yards of the coast. Her mission was to draw out and silence German batteries prior to the landings. In addition to her effective gunfire, Fitch rescued the survivors of , keeping up her fire at the shore batteries as she did so. After two days screening the transport area, she returned to Plymouth for supplies, then continued to give fire support and to patrol off the beachheads until 19 June. Convoy escort duty around the British Isles was her assignment until 4 July, when she sailed from Belfast for Oran, and exercises in the western Mediterranean. Fitch sortied from Taranto, Italy, 11 August 1944 for the invasion of Southern France on 15 August, during which she spotted the fire of as well as firing in the prelanding bombardment. Until 25 October, she supported the buildup in southern France by escorting convoys moving between Naples, Palermo, Oran, Gibraltar, and Marseilles. Between her return to Norfolk on 10 November and 3 January 1945, when she sailed for the Pacific, Fitch was converted to a high-speed minesweeper and was redesignated DMS-25. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 10 February 1945, Fitch trained in minesweeping exercises there and at Ulithi, where her propellers were badly damaged when she ran afoul of a coral pinnacle. Repairs were made at Pearl Harbor from 10 April to 6 August, when she sailed to join the 3rd Fleet off Japan. Fitch began sweeping the entrance to Tokyo Bay on 28 August, and was present for the surrender ceremonies on 2 September. She continued to sweep off Japan and in the East China Sea until returning to