I think we got it, found this info: the 74th AAA Gun Bn was the 1st Bn of the 74th Coast Artillery (AA) Regiment. Here is the lineage:
74th Coast Artillery (AA) Regiment
Constituted 7-29-21 in OR as the 503rd Arty (AA), CAC, and organized March 1922 at Tyrone, PA. Redesignated 6-3-24 as 503rd CA (AA) Regt. Withdrawn from OR and allotted to RA inactive 10-1-33. Redesignated 74th CA (AA) Regt 7-1-40 and activated at Ft. Monroe, VA 1-3-41. Transferred to Cp. Pendleton, VA, 7-19-41 until deployed to AA positions in Norfolk-Portsmouth, VA, area 12-14-41 to 11-19-42; moved to A.P. Hill M.R., VA. Transferred to Ft. Meade, MD, 4-28-43, then to Cp. Myles Standish, MA, until departure from NYC. Landed North Africa 5-11-43 and deployed to Sardinia 10-27-43. Inactivated 5-1-44 and HHB redesignated 74th AAA Gp; 1st Bn, 74th AAA (Gun) Bn; 2nd Bn, 896th AAA (AW) Bn. The 3rd Bn was disbanded.
on the travel dates you gave, it appears that he was on convoy UGF-8. The convoy is listed as leaving Hampton Roads, VA. on 29 April 1943,but some of the ships loaded & sailed from New York then joined the convoy.
UGF-8 arrived Oran, North Africa 11 May 1943. I have the list of ships in the convoy & i`ll try to find out which one carried the 74th. Usualy they will just say "carried 5,500 troops" without giving the units aboard.