The first USS Willard Keith (DE-754) was a United States Navy Cannon-class destroyer escort proposed during World War II but never completed. Willard Keith was laid down by the Western Pipe and Steel Company at San Pedro, California, on 14 September 1943. Her construction was cancelled on 2 October 1943 before she could be launched. The incomplete ship was scrapped. The name Willard Keith was reassigned to destroyer escort Willard Keith (DE-314).