CRONIN was built by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company of Bay City, Michigan, and was launched 5 January 1944, with Mrs, Elizabeth Bain Cronin, daughter-in-law of her namesake, as sponsor. CRONIN was placed in commission 5 May 1944, with Lieutenant Commander Almon G, Cooke, USNR, as her first commanding officer.

After shakedown and training, and duty as school ship at Norfolk, CRONIN sailed from New York 21 July 1944 as convoy escort, bound for Bizerte, Tunisia. She returned to Norfolk from this voyage 7 September, and sailed again 2 October on convoy escort duty bound for Palermo, Sicily. While outward bound, she rescued 24 survivors from the British MV GEORGE W, KNIGHT, off the Azores. She returned to the United States 18 November to prepare for duty in the Pacific.

CRONIN sailed from New York 16 December 1944 transited the Panama, Canal 24 December, and called in the Galapagos Islands and at Bora Bora before arriving at Manus 22 January 1945. Assigned to the Philippine Sea Frontier, CRONIN operated as convoy escort until 26 May. Her next duty was on antisubmarine patrol around Luzon and Mindoro Islands until the close of the war.

On 30 August 1945, CRONIN took departure from Manila for Okinawa. From her new base, during September, she supported the occupation of the Chinese mainland, escorting transports to Jinsen, Korea. During October, she screened BOUGAINVILE (CVE 100) while the carrier delivered planes to Chinese ports, and then escorted an LST convoy to Jinsen. She cleared Okinawa on 8 November for the United States, calling at San Diego 28-29 November.

Continuing on to Boston, CRONIN entered the Naval Shipyard there 15 December 1945 to begin her pre-inactivation overhaul. She sailed from Boston the next month, and arrived at Green Cove Springs, Florida, 19 January 1946. Here she was decommissioned and placed in the reserve fleet on 31 May 1946:

Reclassified DEC-704 (Escort Vessel, Control) 13 September 1950, CRONIN was once more placed in commission 9 february 1951. She took part in two large-scale exercises with the Atlantic Fleet, then operated out of Norfolk on training duty. CRONIN left her home area only twice during the next two years, once on submarine training exercises at Key West in March 1953, and a visit during the next month to Newport. On 27 June 1953, she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for pre-inactivation overhaul. On 22 September, she cleared for her old reserve home, Green Cove Springs, where she was again placed out of commission 4 December 1953. Her designation reverted to DE-704, 27 December 1957.


On December 16, 1971 the CRONIN was towed out to sea and sunk as an aircraft target.
Her final resting place is listed at 31 43' N., 76 15' W.

CRONIN was awarded the American, European-African-Middle Eastern, and Asiatic-Pacific Area Service Medals for her World War II service. She also received the Navy Occupation Service Medal and the China Service Medal for her operations in the Far East following the close of the war.