USS Peterson, a 1200-ton Edsall class escort ship built at Orange, Texas, was commissioned in September 1943. She served on Atlantic convoy operations through the rest of the European part of World War II and participated in the destruction of one German submarine. In June 1945, Peterson moved to the Pacific, where she assisted in the occupation of Japan in September and October. She then returned to the United States and was placed out of commission at Green Cove Springs, Florida in May 1946.

Peterson recommissioned in May 1952, with updated anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities. She served in the Atlantic area for most of the rest of the decade, making three voyages to Europe and acting as a sonar training ship at Key West, Florida. In 1959-60, she transited to the Southern Pacific to support the Antarctic scientific operation "Deepfreeze 60". Her remaining active service was spent in the Atlantic and Caribbean. USS Peterson was decommissioned in 1965, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in April 1973 and sold for scrapping the following year.

USS Peterson was named in honor of Chief Water Tender Oscar Verner Peterson, USN, a hero of the Battle of Coral Sea.