After commissioning she joined the 7th Escort Group based at Greenock in Scotland, with other members including sister ships and and to be later joined by and . Duties included the escort and support of convoys in the North Atlantic and to Gibraltar. In July 1943, "Crane" took part in Operation Husky, the Anglo-American invasion of Sicily, escorting an assault convoy from Britain to the Mediterranean from 28 June to 7 July, and then a second assault convoy to the beaches on 13 July. In August 1943, in order to avoid attacks by aircraft of RAF Coastal Command in the Bay of Biscay, German U-boats on course for the north Atlantic started to hug the coast of France and Northern Spain. As a response, the Royal Navy deployed Escort groups to patrol off Cape Finisterre to stop the Germans from using this route, but German air attacks forced the patrols to move further west, where they were less effective. "Crane" was briefly deployed in one of these groups in September 1943, but saw no success.