On 17 December 1942, the warship cleared Hampton Roads in company with Task Force (TF) 13 on her way to duty in the Pacific. After transiting the Panama Canal and stopping at Tutuila in the Samoan Islands, the destroyer reported at Noumea, New Caledonia, on 20 January 1943 for duty in the Southwest Pacific. From Noumea, Taylor continued west to Efate in the New Hebrides group, entering Havannah Harbor on the 26th. There, she became a unit of DesRon 21, one of two four-destroyer divisions screening Rear Admiral Giffen-s TF 18, comprised of three heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and two escort carriers.
On the nights of 4, 5, and 6 April 1943, she joined them in sweeps up the “Slot” before being ordered back to Tulagi on the 7th to pick up Kanawha. When the de stroyer was just about to enter Tulagi, a strong Japanese air raid cancelled her mission by severely bombing Kanawha before the old oiler could clear the harbor completely. With Kanawha disabled, Taylor rang up 30 knots and cleared the area via Sealark Channel. During her transit of the channel, the warship claimed the destruction of three enemy planes and hits on two others.
On 17 October 1943, Taylor departed the southern Solo mons with the other members of DesDiv 41. She and her consorts escorted a convoy of troop transports to Efate, where they reported for duty with TF 37. Between 23 and 26 October, she made a round-trip voyage between Efate and Noumea, escorting Lassen (AE-3) to Noumea and Aldebaran to Efate. She and her division were reassigned to the Central Pacific Force on 31 October in preparation for the first step in the Navy’s central Pacific thrust, the seizure and occupation of the Gilbert Islands. For that operation, she was assigned to the screen of TG 50.1, built around carriers Lexington (CV-16), Yorktown (CV-10), and Cowpens (CV-25). She screened TG 50.1 during the raids on Jaluit and Mili in the Marshalls conducted during the first half of November in preparation for the Gilberts assault. During the actual landings and occupations, she protected her charges from enemy aircraft and submarines while their planes took off to help those of the escort carriers maintain air supremacy over the islands. Following the Gilberts operation, she steamed with the carriers during raids on the Marshall Islands. Near the end of those forays, she teamed up with Lavallette and San Francisco (CA-38) to splash two of four Japanese Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 carrier bombers “Kates” that attacked the task group just after noon on 4 December.
Following those raids, Taylor was ordered back to the United States for extensive yard work, arriving in San Francisco on 16 December 1943. Repairs completed, she put to sea on 1 February 1944 and headed-via Pearl Harbor-back to the western Pacific. She reached Kwajalein in the Marshalls on the 18th. Taylor escorted one convoy to Eniwetok Atoll where she joined the screen of carriers Coral Sea (CVE-57) and Corregidor (CVE- 58) on 29 February. The task unit cleared Eniwetok on 29 February and headed for Pearl, where it arrived on 3 March. After 12 days of training operations and repairs, the destroyer departed Pearl Harbor in the screen of Sangamon (CVE-20), Suwanee (CVE-27), Chenango (CVE-28), and Santee (CVE-29), and arrived in Purvis Bay near Guadalcanal on the 27th. She remained there until 5 April when she left for Milne Bay, New Guinea, for temporary duty with the 7th Fleet.
The warship reached Milne Bay on 7 April 1944 and, the following day, headed on to Cape Sudest, where she became a unit of TF 77 for the amphibious assault at Humboldt Bay. During the assault, she screened aircraft carriers and acted as fighter director until 24 April when she departed to escort a convoy back to Cape Sudest. From there she moved to Morobe Bay, where she spent the remainder of the month in availability alongside Dobbin (AD-3). During the first week in May, Taylor escorted a convoy from Cape Cretin to the Hollandia invasion area and acted as fighter director shin once more. She returned to Cape Cretin on 7 May and departed again two days later to screen a convoy of LST’s to the Russell Island subgroup in the Solomons. On 13 May, the destroyer reported back to the 3d Fleet in the Solomons, dropped off the convoy, and departed again to screen another convoy to New Caledonia.
On 24 May 1944, she stood out of Noumea in company with DesDiv 41 to return to the Solomons and arrived at her new base of operations, Blanche Harbor, on 27 May. Taylor operated out of that port in the northern Solomons and Bismarcks area until early August. On the night of 28 and 29 May, she patrolled off Medina Plantation on New Ireland while her sister ships bombarded the area to neutralize mobile coastal guns. From 1 to 6 June, she operated with DesDiv 41 conducting antisubmarine operations. During the week from 7 to 14 June, Taylor and the other ships of DesDiv 41 joined TG 30.4 for hunter-killer antisubmarine operations. On the 10th, she depth-charged the Japanese submarine RO-111 (Lt. Comdr. Nakamura Naozo) forced her to the surface, and damaged her heavily with 5-inch and 40-millimeter fire. The submarine submerged again, and Taylor made two more depth-charge runs to administer the coup d-grace. The destroyer returned to Blanche Harbor on the 15th and operated in that vicinity until the first week in August.
On 5 August 1944, Taylor changed operational command from the 3d Fleet to the 7th Fleet. She began her duty with that fleet with a practice bombardment of the Aitape area of New Guinea late in August and a practice landing at Moffin Bay conducted on 6 September. Both operations were in preparation for the landings made on the island of Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies on 15 September. For the remainder of the month, she acted as fighter director ship and as a unit of the invasion force’s antisubmarine and antiaircraft screen. The destroyer also escorted convoys to the landing area until mid-October.
Between 18 and 24 October 1944, Taylor was a unit of the screen for the second reinforcement echelon for the Leyte invasion. During a Japanese aerial assault on the 24th, the destroyer laid a smoke screen to protect the convoy. That night, as the Battle of Surigao Strait opened, Taylor and the other destroyers of her division were anchored near the entrance of San Pedro Bay. Though she did not actually join the surface engagement, Taylor joined the support force on the following morning. Following that, she patrolled the vicinity of Dinagat Island with a unit known as the “torpedo attack force.” On 27 and 28 October, the warship screened TG 77.4, the escort carrier group. During that duty, she rescued a downed fighter pilot from Enterprise (CV-6) and a seaman from Petrof Bay (CVE-80). Frequently, she helped fend off Japanese air attacks.
On 29 October 1944, she joined TG 77.2 and departed the area of Leyte Gulf. After visits to Seeadler Harbor, Ulithi Atoll, and Kossol Roads, she returned to Leyte Gulf on 16 November. Between 16 and 29 November, the destroyer continued to screen TG 77.2 and to patrol the eastern entrance to the Surigao Strait. Again, she joined her sister ships in beating off heavy enemy air raids, climaxed by a large attack of suicide planes and dive bombers on the 29th. She claimed one sure kill and two assists during those raids. Taylor then cleared Leyte Gulf for almost a month at Seeadler Harbor before returning to Leyte on 28 December to prepare for the invasion of Luzon.
Taylor departed Leyte Gulf on 4 January 1945 in the screen for the cruisers in the covering force. The next day, the destroyer sighted two torpedoes running toward her formation. After giving the submarine alarm, Taylor launched a depth charge attack on the enemy submarine, a midget. Following those attacks, she rammed the small submarine and sent it on its last dive. During the Allied approach to Lingayen Gulf and in the days following the landings, the Japanese subjected Taylor and her sister ships to a series of heavy air raids. Taylor-s antiaircraft gunners assisted in splashing at least two of the attackers. Through the end of January, the warship screened the cruisers and the escort carriers on patrol west of Luzon.
From early February through mid-June 1945, Taylor operated out of Subic Bay in the Philippines. Between 13 and 18 February, she participated in an extensive bombardment of Corregidor and of the Mariveles Bay area of Luzon to support minesweeping operations and to pave the way for an assault by airborne troops. Early in March, she supported the recapture of Zamboanga on Mindanao during which the destroyer’s guns helped reduce enemy shore installations. She also covered the minesweepers while they cleared the way for the invasion force. On 15 March, Taylor returned to Corregidor where she bombarded caves on the island-s western cliffs. On 26 March, the ship participated in the amphibious assault on Cebu Island, where she joined Boise (CL-47), Phoenix (CL-46), Fletcher (DD-445), Nicholas, Jenkins (DD-447), and Abbot (DD-629) in laying down a heavy pre-landing bombardment.
After a short two-day sightseeing visit to Manila, Taylor cleared the Philippines with Boise, Phoenix, two Australian warships, and four other American destroyers to support the amphibious landings in northeastern Borneo. En route, she captured five Japanese who were attempting to escape from Tawi Tawi on a raft. On 27 April 1945, Taylor and her sister ships reached the vicinity of the invasion, Tarakan, a small island located just off the eastern coast of Borneo and north of Makassar Strait. She operated in that area until 3 May and delivered a preinvasion bombardment and call fire. On 3 May, two days after the actual landings, she departed Tarakan to resume duty in the Philippines, where for the remainder of the month she conducted training operations.
In mid-June 1945, Taylor rejoined the 3d Fleet at Leyte Gulf and, for the remainder of the war, screened various units of that fleet. During the latter part of the month, she screened aircraft carriers operating south of Okinawa which conducted air strikes on Sakishima Gunto. On 25 June, she returned to Leyte Gulf and remained there until 8 July, when she departed in the screen of TG 30.8, the logistics group for the fast carriers of TF 38. The destroyer operated with TG 30.8 off Honshu until 3 August when she joined the screen of one of the fast carrier task groups, TG 38.4. On 8 August, she resumed duty with the logistics group for five days. On the 13th, Taylor rejoined TG 38.4 just in time to be a part of the last offensive actions directed at Japan.
Following the cessation of hostilities on 15 August 1945, she patrolled off Honshu with the fast carriers. On 23 August, she joined Nicholas and O’Bannon in the screen of Missouri (BB-63) and as such was one of the first American warships to enter Tokyo Bay, arriving on 29 August. The destroyer was present at the surrender ceremony conducted on board Missouri on 2 September and carried Allied war correspondents to and from the ceremony. She operated in the Far East until 10 October when she departed Tokyo Bay to return to the United States. Taylor arrived in San Francisco on 1 November and began preparations for inactivation. On 31 May 1946, the destroyer was decommissioned and placed in reserve at San Diego.
After four years of inactivity, Taylor moved to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard on 9 May 1950 and, three days later, began an extensive conversion to an escort destroyer. While still completing conversion, she was officially redesignated DDE-468 on 2 January 1951. On 3 December 1951, Taylor was recommissioned at San Francisco, Comdr. Sheldon H. Kenney in command. On 3 February 1952, she put to sea for a two months shake down period off San Diego. On 24 March, the escort destroyer headed west to her new home port, Pearl Harbor, and arrived there on the 30th. Following two months in the Hawaiian Islands, Taylor set out to return to the western Pacific for the first time since World War II. She stopped at Midway Island and Yokosuka, Japan, before joining TF 77 on 16 June to screen the carriers during air operations off the Korean coast.
During the five months that she spent in the Far East, Taylor drew several different assignments. Initially, she operated with the fast carriers and conducted bombardments of enemy-held positions along the coasts of Korea. During the second week in July 1952, she returned to Yokosuka for upkeep and then went to sea again for exercises which included several weeks of hunter-killer operations. On 1 August, the escort destroyer rejoined TF 77 and, in September, stood blockade watch off Wonsan for three weeks. Her blockade duty at Wonsan was far from passive for, on numerous occasions, she was called upon to shell enemy shore batteries and lines of transportation and to screen minesweepers during daily sweeps of the harbor. Late that month, Taylor headed south for a tour of duty on the Taiwan Strait Patrol during which she made a weekend port call at Hong Kong. In late October, the escort destroyer returned north to the western coast of Korea where she patrolled with two British warships, the carrier HMS Glory and the light cruiser HMS Birmingham. On 21 November, Taylor returned to Yokosuka, completing the first leg of her voyage home.
After conducting patrols in the western Pacific while en route to Hawaii, Taylor entered Pearl Harbor on 8 December 1952. Following a month of leave and upkeep, she entered the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a month of repairs. For the next three months, she conducted shakedown training in the Hawaiian Islands in order to integrate her replacements with the rest of the crew. On 2 May 1953, the warship exited Pearl Harbor to deploy to the western Pacific again. She reached Yokosuka on the 12th and, after visiting that port and Sasebo, put to sea to join a carrier task group-built around Bairoko (CVE-115) and HMS Ocean off the western coast of Korea. For the most part, she screened the carriers during air operations; however, on two occasions, she patrolled close to the enemy-held shore line to discourage the North Koreans from attempting to take offshore islands held by United Nations forces. She returned to Sasebo on 1 June for 11 days of upkeep before heading for Okinawa and two weeks of antisubmarine warfare (ASW) training. On 25 June, Taylor returned to Japan at Yokosuka, but she departed again almost immediately for duty with the Taiwan Strait Patrol. During that assignment, she visited Hong Kong once again as well as Kaohsiung where she trained sailors of the Taiwan Navy. The escort destroyer returned to Yokosuka on 20 July and, after two days of voyage repairs, departed the Far East. She arrived in Pearl Harbor on 31 July and, the following day, entered the naval shipyard there for a three month overhaul.
Taylor’s return to Pearl Harbor coincided very closely with the formal end to hostilities in Korea. The armistice came on 27 July 1953 when she had just passed the midpoint of her voyage, five days out of Yokosuka and four days from Pearl Harbor. While she saw some action during her two Korean War deployments, they occurred during the relatively quiet, final two years of the conflict. Her subsequent deployments, while they included both duty off Korea and on the Taiwan Strait Patrol, were entirely peaceful in nature until the expansion of the American role in the Vietnamese civil war in 1965.
In the five years between 1 March 1954 and 1 March 1959, Taylor completed five more deployments to the western Pacific, earning the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for service in the Taiwan Straits (11-15 October 1958) and during contingency operations concerning Quemoy and Matsu (27-28 January 1958). During each, she conducted training exercises and made goodwill visits to Far Eastern ports. When not in the Orient, she conducted normal operations out of Pearl Harbor. During her sixth post-Korean War deployment in 1959 and 1960, she visited Australia for the celebration commemorating the victory at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. Upon her return to Pearl Harbor on 26 May 1960, the escort destroyer conducted normal operations again until December when she entered the Pearl Harbor Naval Ship yard for a major overhaul before deploying to the western Pacific again in August 1961. In lieu of her annual western Pacific deployment, Taylor spent the spring and summer of 1962 in the mid-Pacific as one of the support units for Operation Dominic, nuclear tests conducted in the upper atmosphere. In October, she returned to Hawaii to begin a repair period which saw her through the end of 1962. During that year, she reverted to the classification of destroyer and was re- designated DD-468 on 7 August 1962.
Local operations in the Hawaiian Islands occupied the remainder of 1962 and the first six months of 1963. On 4 June 1963, the destroyer stood out of Pearl Harbor with a hunter/killer group bound for duty with the 7th Fleet. During this deployment to the Far East, Taylor called at Kobe, Japan; Hong Kong; Okinawa; and Kushiro as well as the base ports of Yokosuka, Sasebo, and Subic Bay. The call at Kushiro-a fishing port on Hokkaido, the northernmost of the Japanese home islands-constituted Taylor-s contributions to the People to People Program and aided immeasurably in developing greater understanding between the peoples of the United States and Japan. Other than that, the warship engaged in numerous unilateral and bilateral training exercises through the remainder of the cruise which ended at Pearl Harbor on 29 November. Taylor operated locally in Hawaii until April 1964 when she entered drydock for a three-month overhaul. In July she resumed operations in Hawaiian waters.
Those operations continued throughout most of the fall of 1964. On 23 November, the destroyer cleared Pearl Harbor in company with Yorktown (CVS-10) and Taussig (DD-746) to return to the Orient. The task unit steamed via Midway Island and, on 3 December, made port at Yokosuka, Japan. Four days later, she put to sea for two weeks of combined antiaircraft/antisubmarine warfare exercises conducted with Hancock (CVA-19) and Strauss (DDG-16) near Okinawa. On 19 December, the warship returned to Japan at Sasebo and remained there through the holidays and into the New Year. On 4 January 1965, Taylor cleared Sasebo and rejoined Yorktown and Thomason for a voyage to Hong Kong. The three ships remained in the British Crown Colony for five days before clearing port for a series of special operations conducted in the Philippine Sea. At the conclusion of that duty, she put into Subic Bay on 24 February. After four days in the Philippines, Taylor headed back to Sasebo, where she arrived on 3 March. Exactly two weeks later, the destroyer got underway for the western portion of the South China Sea. She arrived off the coast of Vietnam on 21 March and patrolled there for the following five weeks. On 27 April, Taylor headed back to Yokosuka for a brief stop, from 3 to 6 May, before returning to Hawaii. The destroyer reentered Pearl Harbor on the 13th and conducted local operations in Hawaiian waters. On 6 December, Taylor entered the drydock for another overhaul.
The destroyer left the dock in mid-January 1966 and stood out of Pearl Harbor on 7 February and, with the other ships of DesDiv 111, shaped a course for the western Pacific. The warship reached Yokosuka 10 days later and spent eight days undergoing voyage repairs. On 25 February, she departed Yokosuka to join Task Group 70.4 off the coast of Vietnam the following day. She patrolled Vietnamese waters until the Ides of March, when she headed north to patrol the Taiwan Strait. During her stay in the area around Taiwan, she visited Kaohsiung. Her relief arrived on 12 April, and Taylor steamed off to Hong Kong for a five-day port call. On the 21st, she returned to Yankee Station to resume operations in support of American and South Vietnamese forces ashore. Among other tasks, she brought her main battery to bear on the enemy and rendered naval gunfire support between 28 April and 1 May. She conducted upkeep at Sasebo in May and ASW drills from 26 May to 10 June before resuming patrols in the Taiwan Strait on the 11th. She cleared the area again on 5 July, rejoined TG 70.4 on 7 July, and put into Yokosuka the following day. After a week of preparations, the warship departed Yokosuka to return to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on 22 July.
On 2 August 1966, Taylor began a tender availability period alongside Prairie (AD-15) which lasted through the end of the month. Following a short cruise for gunnery practice, Taylor commenced a restricted availability which lasted until late in November. During the first two weeks in December, the destroyer made a round-trip voyage to Pago Pago, American Samoa. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 16 December for holiday leave and upkeep. During the first three months of 1967, the ship conducted local operations around Hawaii, made repairs, and generally prepared to return to the Far East in late spring.
Following an Operational Readiness Inspection in mid-April 1967, she cleared Pearl Harbor on the 18th to join the 7th Fleet in the Orient. On the 25th, she changed operational control from the 1st to the 7th Fleet and, three days later, steamed into Yokosuka. During the first half of June, the destroyer participated in exercises with units of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force and ships of the Republic of Korea Navy. After two days in port at Sasebo, she got under way on 19 June for her first line period on Yankee Station. Between 22 May and 25 June, she plied the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin plane-guarding for Hornet (CVS-12) and providing gunfire support for Allied forces operating ashore. On 27 June, Taylor put into Subic Bay. After a tender availability at Subic Bay and a visit to Manila, she put to sea on 10 July to participate in SEATO exercise “Sea Dog.” Between the 26th and the 28th, she visited Bang Saen on the Gulf of Thailand. After three more days on Yankee Station, from 28 July to 1 August, the destroyer made for Taiwan. She reached Kaohsiung on the 3d and remained until the 15th, when she headed back to the coast of Vietnam. From 19 August to 11 September, she cruised along the Vietnamese coast providing naval gunfire support as needed by the forces operating ashore. She cleared the coast of Indochina on the 12th, and, after a five-day stop at Hong Kong and another tour of duty in the Gulf of Tonkin, she returned to Yokosuka on 11 October. Five days later, she shaped a course back to Hawaii.
Taylor arrived in Pearl Harbor on 23 October 1967, and the destroyer commenced her regular overhaul on 11 December. Repairs and modifications occupied her time through the first three months of 1968. The warship completed overhaul on 22 March and conducted sea trials during the first week in April. Later, engineering problems forced the postponement of further operations until the end of the month. At that time, she began preparations for refresher training. The warship conducted refresher training in May and June, then got underway for San Diego, Calif., on 27 June. She conducted operations, primarily gunnery drills at San Clemente Island, from 3 to 11 July. On the latter date, she headed back to Hawaii. En route, Taylor conducted bombardment exercises at Kahoolawe Island and then entered Pearl Harbor on the 17th. Three weeks later, the destroyer cleared Pearl Harbor on 5 August and set course for the Gulf of Tonkin.
After fueling stops at Midway, Guam, and Subic Bay, she arrived on station off Vietnam on 21 August 1968. Taylor did plane guard duty for Intrepid (CVS-11) for a day; then steamed off with the carrier and destroyers Maddox (DD-731) and Preston (DD-795) toward Sasebo. She returned to the Gulf of Tonkin on 5 September and conducted air and surface surveillance as well as antisubmarine warfare exercises in addition to plane-guarding for the carriers. On the 19th, the destroyer moved in closer to the coast to provide naval gunfire in support of troops ashore. That duty continued until 6 October when she cleared the combat zone to return to Subic Bay for repairs, supplies, and ammunition. On 20 October, the warship took up where she left off and began a week pounding various targets in Vietnam. That line period was followed by visits to Cebu City and Subic Bay in the Philippines. During late November and early December, she resumed duty on the gunline. On 4 December, she cleared the combat zone and set a course through the Luzon Strait to Yokosuka, where she arrived on the 12th. She spent Christmas in Yokosuka, but returned to Yankee Station by New Year’s Day 1969.
In mid-January, she departed Vietnamese waters for the last time. After stops at Subic Bay; Manus Island; Melbourne, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; and Pago Pago, Samoa, the warship arrived back in Pearl Harbor on 28 February. In May, a board of inspection and survey looked her over and determined that she was unfit for further naval service. Early in June, Taylor was moved to San Diego, Calif., and was decommissioned. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 2 July 1969, and she was transferred to Italy at the same time. The former American destroyer served in the Italian Navy as Landere (D.560) until January 1971. At that time, she was decommissioned and struck from the Italian Navy list. She was subsequently cannibalized to maintain her sister ships still serving in the Italian Navy.
Taylor earned a Navy Unit Commendation and 14 battle stars for her World War II service, two battle stars for the Korean conflict, and five battle stars for her Vietnam service.
