Capps was named for Rear Admiral Washington Lee Capps, a naval constructor who ran the Shipping Board's Emergency Fleet Corporation in the First World War. Gulf Shipbuilding at Chickasaw, Alabama, launched her on 31 May 1942. She commissioned on 23 June 1943 under Lieutenant Commander B. E. S. Trippensee and went first to the Atlantic.
In the fall of 1943 she worked with the British Home Fleet out of Scapa Flow, covering convoys and standing by while the fleet watched for a breakout by the heavy German ships. She shifted to the Pacific that winter and screened operations in the Marshalls.
Her hard work came in 1945. At Ulithi in February she trained with underwater demolition teams, then sailed for Iwo Jima on the 14th. Off the island from 16 February she put the teams on the beaches and stayed on the gun line for three weeks, firing more than 2,600 five-inch shells into caves and ridges and throwing star shell over the Marines at night. She went straight on to Okinawa in the screen of escort carriers. For 82 days, with six hours at anchor in Kerama Retto, she guarded those carriers, picked up downed pilots, and fought kamikazes. On 3 April a suicide plane exploded close aboard. She was not hit. She reached San Pedro on 9 July for overhaul and was laid up at Long Beach on 15 January 1947.
Spain took her on loan on 15 May 1957 as Lepanto, named for the 1571 battle. She was stricken at the end of 1985 and scrapped. Seven battle stars.