The destroyer escort was an exclusively American ship type first built during World War II. Like the Japanese, American naval planners saw little need for defensive or escort ships before the outbreak of the war, but the terrible toll exacted by German submarines against Allied convoys in the Battle of the Atlantic demonstrated an urgent need for such warships, and a total of 565 destroyer escorts were rushed through production during the war years. That 425 of these were completed and commissioned between April 1943 and April 1944 is astounding even for U.S. wartime production capacity. Some of the mass production techniques employed to build Liberty Ships were adapted to the destroyer escorts. Large subassemblies were constructed at welding and fabrication shops across the United States, then shipped by rail to the appropriate shipyard.

Although the primary mission of the destroyer escort was convoy defense, the ship could also be pressed into attack service when necessary as the next best thing to a destroyer. However, destroyer escorts were contingency ships, which cost half what it cost to build destroyers and took much less time to build. They were smaller and less fully armed, but they could be put into the sea fast.

Of the 563 destroyer escorts built during and shortly after the war, 78 were built for Great Britain, six for France, and eight for Brazil. A total of 30 of the Edsall class ships were delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard. All the rest of the production went to the U.S. Navy. Originally intended for Atlantic service, a significant number also found their way to the Pacific, often in attack roles rather than the defensive role for which they had been designed. In addition to convoy defense and antisubmarine warfare, the destroyer escorts were used for shore bombardment, picket duty, surface engagements, and even troop transport.

More than a thousand destroyer escorts were ordered during the war, but almost half these orders were cancelled. The majority of the destroyer escort fleet was decommissioned and mothballed after the war, but a few were put into naval reserve duty. Some 52 ships were reactivated during the Korean War, and it was 1973 before the last of the World War II vessels was stricken.

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