 Fanning and the U.S.S.McDougal, engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity.In 1935, he commanded the , the flagship of a flotilla of minesweepers assisting the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in charting the Aleutian Islands.