Originally a namesake of the Battle of Eutaw Springs when laid down 1 November 1942, she was renamed for the Chepachet River located in a village of Glocester, Rhode Island bearing the same name.

Between 27 July 1943 and 19 June 1944, Chepachet supported military and naval operations in North Africa and the Mediterranean by crossing the Atlantic in convoys, carrying oil from West Indian and Gulf ports to Casablanca and Oran.

In July, Chepachet took departure for Aruba, NWI, a Dutch island off the coast of Venezuela, and a transshipment and refining center for Venezuelan crude oil, in company with the oiler Salamonie (AO-26), and the destroyer escorts Walter C. Wann (DE-412) and Abercrombie (DE-343).

Two days later after the oilers loaded cargo, the convoy put to sea again, laden with oil, and on 17 August reached Humboldt Bay, New Guinea, for duty fueling combatant ships, small craft, and merchantmen at the Panama Canal.

The TU was joined on 12 October by the destroyer escorts Willmarth (DE-638) and Whitehurst (DE-634) (out of Blanche Harbor), steering for Kossol Roads and final preparations for assault.

Willmarth patrolled for three days before getting underway with Chepachet again during the forenoon on 20 October, screening sortie for the Philippines, also including Ashtabula, Saranac, Salamonie, Mazama, and SS Durham Victory.

Underway again off Homonhon Island early the next morning, the destroyer escort received a report of enemy aircraft orbiting over the northern transport area.

While the radio crackled with reports of ships under attack, no enemy planes were spotted nearby, only many puffs of "flak" splattering the skies to the westward of the refueling group.

While the oiler's repair parties controlled the flooding and patched the hole, the convoy passed out of Leyte Gulf and reformed in the wake of the attack.

After maneuvering on screening duties through the night, the warship spotted a lone "Val" dive bomber making an attack at 05:50; Willmarth opened fire from 6,000 yards (5,500 m) but failed to score any hits.

Between 14 November 1944, when she returned to New Guinea, and 27 December, when she sailed for the Philippines, Chepachet served at various South Pacific ports as station oiler, receiving oil brought in by naval and merchant tankers, and transferring it to combatants.

Chepachet returned to Subic Bay for operations in the Luzon area, for example, rendezvous with a fast carrier task group at the end of August under escort of Walton (DE-361).

Chepachet aided in occupation and redeployment operations throughout the Far East with station duty at Jinsen, Korea; Hong Kong; Okinawa; and Tokyo until 9 December, when she sailed for Pearl Harbor.

[4] Around 1998, former crewmembers finally located the village their vessel was named for, and held a reunion in Chepachet, Rhode Island, documented in an article in The Providence Journal dated 20 September of that year.