After a voyage to Newfoundland in May she departed Hampton Roads, Virginia on 8 June en route to the Mediterranean to become part of Admiral Kent Hewitt's Western Naval Task Force for the invasion of Sicily.

Gherardi saw her first surface action when late in July and early August she participated in several offensive sweeps along the northern coast of Sicily, and around the port of Palermo.

After intensive training out of Casco Bay, Maine, Gherardi made a voyage to Gibraltar with a large scouting force between 23 March and 22 April 1944.

On the morning of D-Day, 6 June 1944 she maneuvered into the fire support area as a unit of Admiral Don P. Moon's Assault Force "U" for Utah Beach.

She delivered calls from fire-control parties ashore clearing the way for troops by prompt and accurate fire on railroads, houses, shore batteries and other targets.

This lasted until 25 June when she joined Admiral Morton Deyo's bombardment Task Force 129 in the support of the First Army assault on Cherbourg, France.

Departing the Normandy area 18 July 1944 Gherardi steamed to Malta where she joined a British–American escort carrier task force which trained for the invasion of Southern France on 15 August.

Near the end of the battle for Okinawa the versatile Gherardi participated in day shore bombardment and night illumination of the southern coast of the island, contributing to the advance of the troops.

Early in July Gherardi became flagship of Commander Mine Division 60, then took up duty as fire-support ship for a group of smaller fleet minesweepers in the China Sea.

The surrender documents having been signed on board the battleship Missouri on 2 September 1945, Gherardi began a series of high speed minesweeping operations to help clear the waters around southern Kyūshū and Korea.

She now became a unit of Mine Division 6, Atlantic Fleet and based at Norfolk until June when her home port changed to Naval Station Charleston, South Carolina.

In 1948 Gherardi continued to base out of Charleston, keeping busy with minesweeping exercises and steaming to Newfoundland again in November for cold weather training.