Trathen was named for Lieutenant Commander James Trathen, who commanded the bark Midnight on the Gulf blockade in the Civil War. He had entered the Navy at nearly fifty. Bethlehem at San Francisco laid her down on 17 March 1942 and launched her on 22 October 1942. The sponsor was the wife of Captain Cassin Young, the Medal of Honor officer of the repair ship Vestal (AR-4) at Pearl Harbor. She commissioned on 28 May 1943.
She screened carriers and bombarded through the central Pacific drive and the Philippines, and earned eight battle stars. She decommissioned at San Diego on 18 January 1946.
Recommissioned on 1 August 1951 for Korea, she did a western Pacific tour of escort and gunfire duty and came home to a long Cold War career on the Pacific coast. She decommissioned for the last time on 11 May 1965, was struck on 1 November 1972, and was used as a target hulk in November 1973 before scrapping. Accounts differ on whether she rates one or two Korean battle stars.