She was the fourth vessel named for John Cushing Aylwin. Aylwin was laid down on 13 November at Westwego, La. Charles K. Duncan ; and commissioned on 18 September at the Boston Naval Shipyard. Early in December, the destroyer escort sailed for her home port, Norfolk, Virginia , and arrived there on 10 December. While en roue, Aylwin stopped at Andros Island , Bahamas, for weapons testing.
She visited Santo Domingo for a liberty call before returning to Norfolk for post-shakedown availability. Her first stop was at El Ferrol, Spain. Departing that port on 13 December, she transited the Strait of Gibraltar and proceeded to Athens, Greece , where she spent the holiday season. Next came ASW operations in the eastern Mediterranean followed by a visit to Naples, Italy , for a two-week tender availability. The destroyer escort then visited Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia.
On 20 June, Aylwin got underway once more for the United States. She paused at the Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown , Virginia, on 27 June, to unload her weapons and returned to Norfolk the next day ending an absence of seven months.
The ship was dry-docked from 19 July to 20 August. A tender availability came in November, and December found the ship in a stand-down period.
She returned to Norfolk on 27 April to make final preparations for her second overseas deployment. Her first stop was Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico , where she held gunnery exercises. Aylwin next put into Recife, Brazil , for a brief liberty period. She got underway again on the 28th to cross the Atlantic and arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone , on 2 July.
