Originally designated for transfer to the United Kingdom, Sederstrom was laid down as BDE-31 on 24 December 1942 at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California; redesignated for use by the United States Navy on 4 June 1943; launched as Gillette (DE-31) on 15 June 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Thomas D. O'Dea; renamed Sederstrom on 30 July 1943; and commissioned on 11 September 1943.

He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1940 and was commissioned ensign, supply corps, United States Naval Reserve on 17 January 1941.

From March to July of that year, he attended the Naval Finance and Supply School at Philadelphia and, on 31 August, he reported for duty on the battleship, USS Oklahoma.

The force, Reserve Group 2, arrived off Saipan on 16 June, the day after the invasion, and cruised to the east of the island until after the battle of the Philippine Sea.

On the 20th, the Army troops were landed south of Charan Kanoa; and, on the 22nd, Sederstrom got underway to escort LST's and LCI's back to Eniwetok.

For the next three weeks, she screened and provided plane guard services for the CVE's (escort carriers) as they supported the landings on Kerama Retto and on Okinawa.

By mid-April, however, Japanese aerial resistance, particularly the kamikazes, had taken enough of a toll among the destroyer types providing anti-submarine and anti-aircraft screens for the beachhead area to necessitate replacements, and Sederstrom was reassigned to this duty.

On the 22nd, she was targeted by a kamikaze, but her anti-aircraft guns damaged the plane sufficiently to cause it to crash into the water about 10 feet off the starboard bow.