Carpenter was laid down on 30 July 1945 at Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas; launched on 28 September 1945, and sponsored by Mrs. Donald M. Carpenter, widow of the ship's namesake. Work ceased on the ship, however, when the contract for her construction was cancelled on 30 January 1946, resumed on 21 February, but stopped again on 21 October when the hull was transferred to Algiers Naval Station, Louisiana. Towed to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company on 6 November 1947 for completion as a Carpenter sub-class hunter-killer anti-submarine destroyer (DDK), Carpenter was commissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia, on 15 December 1949, Commander James B. Grady in command."