On 6 January 1944 "Ellyson" once again joined "Ranger" for screen and plane guard duty in Narragansett Bay. She sailed for north Africa 19 April and arrived at Oran on 1 May. On the 16th while hunting submarines "Ellyson" made contact on , touching off an intensive coordinated air-sea hunt. The submarine surfaced at 23:58, and soon dived after a brief duel with . "Ellyson" and continued the attack with depth charges, forcing "U-616" to surface again. "Ellyson" sank her with gunfire on the morning of the 17th, then rescued 30 survivors.