January 9, 1943 the Boston Naval Shipyard commissioned the destroyer escort Griswold DE-7. She was named in honor of Ens. Donald T. Griswold, Jr., USNR, who was the pilot of an SBD-3 Dauntless of VS-8, USS Hornet CV-8, killed during the Battle of Midway. He was shot down while attacking the Japanese cruiser Mikuma. The ship was christened by his mother Margaret North Griswold.

The battle history of USS Griswold is crowned by an action on Dec. 24, 1943 when she attacked a submerged Japanese submarine off Guadalcanal. It is thought that I-39 was sunk in the action, and Griswold was credited with the sinking. It is known that I-39 failed to return from her last patrol and there is a very good chance that she was sunk in this action. However, it has never been confirmed that it was the Griswold attack that sank the boat and her commanding officer was criticized for not collecting a sample of the diesel oil reported on the surface. It should be noted that the commanding officer of HMNZS Matai T-01, who witnessed the attack and relieved USS Griswold after the attack, was convinced that a submarine had been sunk.

USS Griswold DE-7 decommissioned on Nov. 19, 1945 after earning three battle stars and was scrapped in 1947.