Cook was laid down at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan on 7 May 1944 and partially completed as a Rudderow-class destroyer escort with the hull number DE-714.

On 17 February 1945 Cook left Bay City, Michigan for New Orleans, Louisiana by way of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River for outfitting.

After transporting troops to Okinawa, Cook reconnoitered and landed UDT 20 at Hakodate, Hokkaidō before its occupation on 27 September.

She sailed home from Yokohama by way of Guam, Eniwetok, and Pearl Harbor, to San Diego, arriving there on 13 November.

Cook returned to San Diego on 12 June 1955, and sailed in various landing and training exercises as primary control vessel or anti-submarine ship.

Cook returned to San Diego on 23 April 1956 for maintenance anti-submarine exercises, and public orientation cruises, until 22 August 1957, when she departed for a tour of duty in the western Pacific based at Yokosuka.

Cook was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 November 1969, and sold for scrapping on 24 July 1970, to National Metal and Steel Corporation, Terminal Island, California.