BDE-33 was laid down at Mare Island Navy Yard on 23 January 1943 as one of the warships to be transferred to the United Kingdom under the terms of the Lend-Lease agreement. However, her allocation to the Royal Navy was canceled; and she was named Tisdale (for Commander Ryland Dillard Tisdale) and redesignated DE-33 on 23 June 1943 when a destroyer escort recently laid down at Boston, Massachusetts, DE-228, was assigned to the Royal Navy in her stead. Tisdale was launched on 28 June 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth M. Tisdale, Jr.; and commissioned on 11 October 1943, Lt. Comdr. Theodore Wolcott in command.