Entering service in 1943, the ship saw action during World War II, participating in the Battle of Tarawa.

Schroeder provided escort for two separate aircraft carriers making shakedown cruises to the Caribbean and a convoy of merchant ships bound for Casablanca before steaming to the Pacific.

After an overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard, she steamed west and joined Destroyer Squadron 25 (DesRon 25) at Pearl Harbor on 28 July 1943.

Schroeder departed Tarawa on 24 November for Pearl Harbor for repairs, as she had damaged her screws on a coral reef in the lagoon.

Schroeder was back with her division, on 1 February 1944, when it screened transports and provided fire support for the assault on Kwajalein Island.

On 20 March, Schroeder and her division bombarded Japanese coast defenses at Kavieng, New Ireland, with nearly 900 rounds of ammunition; departing for Efate in the evening.

Later in the month, she participated in the bombardment of enemy positions at Hollandia; and, then screened transports and LSTs at Humboldt Bay.

Schroeder operated in the Purvis Bay-Guadalcanal area until she departed for Kwajalein, on 4 June, as a unit of Task Group 53.1 (TG 53.1).

She entered Leyte Gulf at midnight, 19 October, with a group of transports, and, the next morning, began performing ASW and fighter director duties.

Departing there on 20 January, the veteran destroyer was back in Ulithi on 7 February where she joined TF 58, the Fast Carrier Task Force.

The next day, the flattops launched strikes against the Volcano Islands in preparation for the forthcoming assault against that Japanese bastion.

On 16 April, the destroyer, supporting the landing on Ie Shima, was at general quarters nine different times to repel enemy air attacks.