She was named in honor of Charles M. Stern, Jr., who was on duty in battleship USS Oklahoma on 9 April 1941 and was killed when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

The ship was laid down on 12 August 1943 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newark, New Jersey; launched on 31 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Joan M. Stern; and, commissioned on 1 December 1943.

After a short training period off Casco Bay, Maine, she escorted a convoy to Ireland and returned with another to New York.

Stern made another round trip to Ireland, via Bermuda from 8 June to 2 August, and one more to Bizerte, Tunisia, which ended in New York on 7 October.

The ship returned to Ulithi on 8 February and was attached to the screen of the attack transport group of the task force which would invade Iwo Jima.

The force arrived off that island early on the morning of the 19th, and the assault groups began landing under intense hostile fire.

Stern was reactivated on 1 March 1951, and with five other destroyer escorts, transferred under the Military Assistance Program to the government of the Netherlands.