She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. She returned home at war's end with a one battle star for her assistance in sinking a German submarine. He enlisted in the U. After flight instruction at Miami and Jacksonville, Florida , he was appointed naval aviator on 26 August and received a reserve ensign's commission on 18 September.
Margaret Baker, the mother of Ens. After fitting out at her builders' yard, running the required trials in Long Island Sound , and undergoing a final check, the new destroyer escort departed the New York Navy Yard on 9 January for shakedown training.
Following these drills and exercises that she conducted off Bermuda with friendly submarines, she returned to New York on 4 February. Baker's first convoy escort cycle proved uneventful. Her second voyage to North Africa proved to be quiet, and Baker reached Bizerte , Tunisia , with her convoy on 30 April.
Walden and SS Fort Fidler. Each managed to limp into port for repairs, although their assailant, U , soon fell victim to the combined efforts of eight American destroyers and several British aircraft. Following exercises at Bermuda, TG On 2 July, its air patrol sighted a surfaced U-boat, but her lookouts must have spotted the planes because a search by two escorts dispatched proved to be fruitless.
While hunting south of Newfoundland on 5 July, Baker picked up a submarine on her sound gear at , and carried out a depth charge attack. The force of the explosions, however, rendered the training mechanism on her sound gear inoperable and three men had to go below to turn the gear manually. Baker again located the submarine and delivered another depth charge attack, blowing the enemy to the surface. Her guns opened fire at 1, yards as soon as the submarine broke the surface.
