Question: What was the duration of the war that was in progress when the USS McAnn first served in the Atlantic Ocean?

 It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis.  It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. World War II (often abbreviated to WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier.  In a state of total war, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. <SEP> The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season was the final year in a consecutive string of three hyperactive seasons, although most of the storms were weak.  It is tied with 1887, 1995, 2010, and 2011 for having the third-most named storms on record.  It was also the second-costliest season, behind 2005.  The season officially began on June 1 and ended on November 30, dates that conventionally delimit the period during each year in which most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic Ocean.  However, Alberto, the first system of the year, developed on May 19 – the earliest date of formation since Tropical Storm Ana in 2003.  A second tropical cyclone, Beryl, developed later that month.  This was the first occurrence of two pre-season named storms in the Atlantic basin since 1951.  It moved ashore in North Florida on May 29 with winds of 65 mph (100 km/h), making it the strongest pre-season storm to make landfall in the Atlantic basin.  This season marked the first time since 2009 where no tropical cyclones formed in July.  Another record was set by Hurricane Nadine later in the season; the system became the fourth-longest-lived tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic, with a total duration of 22.25 days.  The final storm to form, Tony, dissipated on October 25 – however, Hurricane Sandy, which formed before Tony, became extratropical on October 29. <SEP> USS "McAnn" (DE-179) was a "Cannon"-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II.  She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. <SEP> The Spirit of Butts' Farm (also known as TAM 5) was the first model aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean on August 11, 2003.  The aircraft was launched from Cape Spear near St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, and landed at Mannin Beach near Clifden, Ireland 38.9 hours later.  It was recognized by the FAI as a double world record flight for its duration of 38h 52 min 19 sec and straight-line distance of 1881.6 mi using an autopilot, and using the Argos System for telemetry to track the flight's progress; the team's use of technology also spurred the FAI to create new record categories.  The aircraft was controlled by autopilot for >99% of the flight in a manner similar to that used by the Insitu Aerosonde UAV "Laima" that crossed the Atlantic in 1998.  The flight used 99.2% of its fuel and left only 1.5 USfloz (or 44 minutes of flight time) remaining when it reached its destination.