The ship was laid down on 19 October 1942 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newark, New Jersey, launched on 28 March 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Charles Mathoff, niece of Commodore Levy; and commissioned on 13 May 1943.

After shakedown off Bermuda, Levy, one of the Navy's first destroyer escorts, steamed for the South Pacific, arriving at the Society Islands on 19 August 1943.

From 12 June to 16 August 1944, Levy screened the oilers which supported the invasion of the Marianas and fueled Admiral Mitscher's carriers during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, in which American carrier-based planes caused significant damage to Japanese naval airpower.

On 20 November, while escorting a convoy from Ulithi for another rendezvous with Mitscher's flattops, Levy drove off enemy planes which attacked the formation.

During the last two months of the war, Levy helped blockade and bombard the remaining Japanese-held atolls in the Marshalls and rescued a boatload of natives who had escaped from enemy-held Jaluit.