The destroyer arrived at Plymouth, England, on 28 April and began a routine that combined patrols in British waters with preparations for the invasion of Normandy.

She operated in the western Mediterranean mostly between Oran, Algeria, and Naples, Italy before arriving off Saint-Tropez on 15 August, D-Day for the invasion of southern France.

On 21 January 1945, Baldwin put to sea from Norfolk to rendezvous with the cruiser Quincy which carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the first leg of the trip to the "Big Three" conference at Yalta.

During that time, Baldwin escorted Bon Homme Richard to the Panama Canal Zone and operated off the east coast in the antisubmarine screens of the aircraft carriers Boxer and Card.

Steaming in company with Nelson, she visited Guantánamo Bay in Cuba; Balboa in the Canal Zone and San Diego before arriving at Pearl Harbor on 12 August.

A month later, the warship joined Task Force 55 (TF 55) at Okinawa to prepare for the occupation of Sasebo, Japan, and participated in that operation between 20 September and 2 October.

By 7 October, Baldwin was at Pusan, Korea, supporting forces sweeping mines along the Chinese and Korean coasts, a task at which she labored for the remainder of 1945.