Duckworth was ordered on 10 January 1942, as DE-61, long-hulled turbo-diesel (TE) type destroyer escort, one of more than 500 such vessels built for ASW to a collaborative British-American design.

She was transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease on completion on 4 August 1943, and named for John Thomas Duckworth, a RN officer of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

[3][4] After commissioning Duckworth was assigned to Western Approaches Command, as the senior officer's ship of 3rd Escort Group.

On the return 3EG assisted the passage of RA 61 by sweeping the Kola inlet ahead of the convoy; during this operation Mounsey of 15EG was torpedoed, she survived but was later declared a constructive total loss.

On 24 February 1945, following an attack on coastal convoy BTC 78, Duckworth along with her sister ship HMS Rowley, another frigate of the Captain class, found and destroyed the U-boat responsible after a six-hour hunt.

This vessel was identified post-war as the German U Boat U-480 and was thought to be sunk in the English Channel between Land's End and the Scilly Isles.