Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Shakedown cikakke, "Catoctin" ya share Norfolk 5 Maris 1944 don Algiers, inda ta ba da rahoto a ranar 19 ga Maris a matsayin babban kwamandan kwamandan, 8th Fleet. Ta kasance a Algiers kuma daga baya Oran har zuwa 8 ga Yuli, lokacin da ta tashi zuwa Naples, Italiya. A ranar 24 ga Yuli, a Naples, Sarki George VI na Burtaniya ya ziyarci jirgin. A cikin watanni da yawa, "Catoctin" ya kasance hedkwatar shirin mamaye kudancin Faransa
, kuma a ranar 13 ga watan Agusta, ta tashi daga Naples don kai hari, dauke da Sakataren Sojan Ruwa James Forrestal, da kwamandojin Sojoji na 7, VI Corps, 12th Air Force, da Sojojin Ruwa na Faransa.