Shortly before midnight on 7 November, Tillman reached a point some 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) off the coast of Africa and began screening the unloading transports of the Center Attack Group during the Naval Battle of Casablanca near Fedhala.

Maneuvering at speeds of up to 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph), Tillman fired on the French ships, leaving one vessel steaming in circles, before she returned to her station off the transport area.

Departing New York Harbor in the early hours of 8 February 1943, a dark night with unusually strong tides, Tillman sideswiped the paravane boom of an improperly illuminated merchant vessel anchored directly in the channel.

After repairs at New York, Tillman operated on the Eastern Sea Frontier in February and March 1943, performing escort duties and participating in exercises.

During the remainder of 1943, Tillman escorted convoys in Mediterranean and Atlantic waters, experiencing many dangerous moments as she protected vulnerable merchant vessels from enemy submarines and airplanes.

Quick maneuvering saved Tillman from destruction by the torpedo which crossed about 30 yards (27 m) ahead and passed down her port side trailing a sinister wake.

On 6 November 1943, as she steamed off the coast of French Algeria, Tillman helped repel a German air attack on the port quarter of a convoy carrying troops and supplies for the Italian campaign.

An estimated 25 German aircraft, many armed with glide bombs, took part in the raid, and sank two merchantmen and Tillman's sister ship Beatty.

The radio-controlled missile came in at a terrific speed, but Tillman's machine guns splashed it in a violent explosion only 150 yards (140 m) off the destroyer's port bow.

A third glide bomb splashed off the ship's starboard beam as its parent craft turned back in the face of Tillman's concerted fire.

As her main battery engaged the raiders, Tillman turned left full rudder to evade torpedoes, two of which passed nearly parallel to the ship at distances of 60 and 100 feet (18 and 30 m).

In the first three months of 1945, Tillman participated in exercises in the Caribbean and off the United States East Coast before departing on 28 March 1945 from the Delaware Bay and steaming via the Panama Canal Zone and San Diego, California, for Hawaii.