The still-unnamed ship was laid down as the U.S. Navy destroyer escort DE-85 by Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc., in Hingham, Massachusetts, on 23 June 1943.

[1] She was commissioned into service in the Royal Navy as the frigate HMS Dakins (pennant number K550) on 23 November 1943 simultaneously with her transfer from the US.

Although heavily damaged, she managed to limp back to Harwich on the east coast of England.

[1] After sufficient repairs to make her seaworthy, Dakins steamed to Antwerp, Belgium, with a skeleton crew and docked at the John Cockerill shipyard in Antwerp's Hoboken district for assessment of what further repairs she required.

[1] Dakins was declared a constructive total loss and was sold on 9 January 1947 for scrapping in the Netherlands.