 "Robert H. Smith" was laid down on 10 January 1944 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine and launched on 25 May 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Robert Holmes Smith.The vessel was redesignated DM-23 on 19 July 1944; and commissioned on 4 August 1944, Commander Henry Farrow in command.Following shakedown off Bermuda, the new destroyer minelayer transited the Panama Canal with a Pacific-bound convoy 28 November, arriving at San Pedro 9 December and Pearl Harbor 21 December.