Reclassified and given hull classification symbol APD-20 (transport destroyer) on 20 October 1943, "Roper" departed Charleston in late November and trained in the Chesapeake Bay area and off the Florida coast into the new year, 1944. On 13 April, she steamed east and at the end of the month joined the 8th Fleet at Oran, Algeria. A unit of Transport Division 13, assigned to support the offensive in Italy, "Roper" landed units of the French Army on Pianosa on 17 June and, into July, plied between Oran and Naples and operated along the western coast of the embattled peninsula. In August, she shifted her attention to southern France. On 15 August, she arrived off that coast as part of the "Sitka" Force and landed troops on Levant Island. On 5 September she returned to Italy; resumed runs between Naples and Oran, and, in early December departed the latter port for Hampton Roads.