She was laid down on 7 December 1942 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Texas; launched on 21 February 1943, sponsored by Mrs. William S. Burrell, and commissioned on 7 August 1943.

Stanton got underway on 29 August 1943 for San Juan, Puerto Rico, to join the destroyer escort shakedown group and, a month later, arrived at the Charleston Navy Yard.

The escorts picked up convoy GUS-24 there and headed for the United States on 15 December 1943 and arrived safely at New York on 3 January 1944.

USS Holder was torpedoed in the port side by one of the low flying planes, but no merchant ships or LST's were hit.

Stanton was attached to the 6th Atlantic Fleet and held training exercises in Casco Bay from 30 July until she returned to New York to escort a section of convoy UGS-51 to Norfolk.

On 10 January 1945, Stanton and CortDiv 13, with Croatan, steamed to Bermuda to continue antisubmarine warfare exercises in conjunction with flight operations.

During the last week in March, the submarine hunter-killer group took its assigned position in the north central Atlantic, midway between Newfoundland and England as part of Operation Teardrop.

Just before 0200 on the 16th, Frost made a surface contact at 500 yards, fired starshells to no avail, and finally illuminated a U-boat with her searchlight.

At 0406, Stanton fired a hedgehog pattern over a contact that produced an explosion so violent that she thought she had been torpedoed and rocked Croatan 15 miles away.

On 1 July, CortDiv 13 was assigned to the Pacific Fleet, and Stanton, with Swasey sailed for Hawaii, via Panama and San Diego, California.

Stanton participated in antisubmarine warfare practice until 22 August when she was detached from the Pacific Fleet and ordered to return to the Atlantic seaboard.

She was then moved to Norfolk, Virginia, on 28 September and the following month was assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs, Florida, moored, and provided steam and electrical services to units of CortDiv 36 from 1 January 1946 to 2 June 1947.