 Since she was so near to completion, Defoe completed her as a destroyer escort, and then when she reached New Orleans prior to commissioning, she was converted in a shipyard to the APD configuration.She was commissioned on 31 December 1944, with Lieutenant Commander Joseph B. Fyffe in command.Edward W. Gosselin was born on 1 May 1917, in Hamden, Connecticut, the son of Edward Napoleon Gosselin and Florilla Helena (Webb) Gosselin.