USS Robert E. Peary (DE-132) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. She was named after Robert E. Peary, the famous Arctic explorer and laid down 30 June 1942 by the Consolidated Steel Co., Orange, Texas; launched 3 January 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Robert Edwin Peary; and commissioned 31 May 1943, Lt. Comdr. Kerfoot B. Smith in command.