She first served in the Atlantic during World War II . In November 1942, she ran with the Allied task force during Operation Torch to the Moroccan coast to attack forces of the Axis powers during the Allied invasion of North Africa. In July 1943, she took part with the Alabama and South Dakota and ships of the Royal Navy in a fake action against the German armed forces in Norway in order to distract the Germans from the planned invasion of Sicily ( Operation Husky ). From June 1944 she was the flagship of Admiral Kirk, commander of the Western Task Force, during the Normandy landings . In August 1944 she supported the 1st Special Force on the island of Levante, on the Mediterranean coast of southern France. The Augusta remained in service after the war and was scrapped in April 1960.