The ship was named in honor of Marine Private McCoy Reynolds (1916–1942), who was killed in action on Guadalcanal on 25 November 1942, after exposing himself to destroy a Japanese machine gun nest in the defense of Henderson Field, for which he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.

After shakedown off Bermuda, McCoy Reynolds departed Norfolk, Virginia, 11 July to escort the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) to the Panama Canal Zone.

On 25 September, en route to join Task Force 57 out of Guam, McCoy Reynolds made underwater contact with a suspected submarine, and for 2 hours launched four depth charge attacks without results.

McCoy Reynolds and Conklin made a total of eight attacks until an underwater explosion occurred and oil and debris gushed to the surface at about 1745, marking the sinking of the Japanese submarine I-37.

During her third escort mission on 12 May McCoy Reynolds went to the aid of the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (CV-17), struck by two kamikazes the day before, with heavy losses and serious damage.

McCoy Reynolds guarded the carrier to Ulithi, arriving 14 May, then returned to the Logistics Support Group, with whom she experienced the typhoon of 5 June which severely damaged more than 20 ships of the fleet.

After serving as station ship at Hong Kong 20 March to 12 May, she exercised in the South China Sea and Gulf of Siam until making passage to Pearl Harbor, 29 June to 11 July.

McCoy Reynolds sailed 31 May 1955 for surveillance patrols off the Carolines and service as a search and rescue ship in the mid Pacific, returning to Pearl Harbor 22 October.

Under the Military Assistance Program, the ship was loaned to the Government of Portugal on 7 February 1957, and she entered service in the Portuguese Navy as Corte Real (F 334) and served until decommissioned on 19 November 1968.