She was named in honor of United States Marine Corps Brigadier General Frank Evans, a leader of the American Expeditionary Force in France during World War I.

Frank E. Evans continued to operate in East Asia until 6 March 1946, when she departed Qingdao, China, bound for San Francisco, California.

[2] Recommissioned on 15 September 1950 for service in the Korean War, Frank E. Evans sailed from San Diego, California, on 2 January 1951 for duty with the United States Seventh Fleet.

[3][4] During her tour of duty off Korea, she also bombarded targets in the Songjin-Chongjin area, rescued downed aviators, and coordinated and controlled day and night bombing missions by United Nations aircraft.

[2] While riding out Typhoon Pamela in the Taiwan Strait in early November 1954, Frank E. Evans responded to an SOS by the Military Sea Transportation Service cargo ship USNS Muskingum (T-AK-198), which had lost steering control near the center of the storm.

Frank E. Evans had escaped to the edge of the typhoon, but turned back into the storm, racing for five hours toward Muskingum to render assistance and taking damage in the process.

[3][5][6] From 1954 to 1960, Evans completed five tours of duty in the East Asia and conducted extensive training operations along the United States West Coast and in the Hawaiian Islands, occasionally with Royal Canadian Navy ships.

[2] From 1962 to 1963, Frank E. Evans portrayed the fictitious destroyer USS Appleby in the NBC situation comedy Ensign O'Toole, starring Dean Jones in the title role.

[8] During the Tet Offensive, Frank E. Evans provided naval gunfire support to the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division against the Viet Cong 840th Battalion near Phan Thiết, South Vietnam, on 3 February 1968.