"Stevens" completed shakedown in the Atlantic during the spring of 1943, then escorted coastal convoys before heading for the Panama Canal in July. On 26 July she transited the canal, and moored at Balboa the following day. She departed on 28 July, headed west to Hawaii, and entered Pearl Harbor on 9 August. By that time, American industrial prowess was beginning to produce and put into action the powerful naval force which, within two years, brought the Japanese Empire to its knees. "Stevens", one of a new class of fast, well-armed destroyers, joined three new "Essex"-class aircraft carriers and the fast battleships "Alabama" (BB-60) and "South Dakota" (BB-57) in augmenting the U.S. Pacific Fleet. In late August, she accompanied the Task Force 15 (TF 15) carriers to warm-up raids on the Gilbert Islands. Their planes hit Marcus Island on the 31st and Tarawa on 18 September, but "Stevens" parted company with them and steamed for the West Coast before their 5 and 6 October raids on Wake Island. By the time of her departure from the west coast on the 6th, the assaults on Makin and on Tarawa had been made, and the atolls were all but secure.