The USS Goddrich was named in honor of Rear Admiral Casper F. Goodrich, USN, former Commander-in- Chief Pacific Squardron and Commandant, first Naval District who died in 1925 and his son, Lieutenant Casper Goodrich, USN, who lost his life in a gun turret explosion on board the battleship, USS Georgia in 1907. It was the first U.S.Navy ship named in honor of a father and son.

She commenced her career by transiting the Panama Canel to operate with the Fifth and Seventh fleets in Japanese and Korean waters. After World War Two, the Goodrich assisted in the sinking of 24 Japanese submarines, including the I-58 which was responsible for sinking the USS Indianapolis. In January 1947, she returned to the Atlantic Fleet as a unit of Destroyer Squardon Eight and Fourteen, homeported at Newport, Rhode Island. In June 1952, she escorted the luxury liner SS United States into New York Harbor prior to the liner's maiden voyage across the Atlantic. In June 1953, she entered the Boston Naval Shipyard and was converted to a radar picket destroyer. The Goodrich moved her homeport to Mayport, Florida, Destroyer Squardron Eight, in June 1959 and in January 1960 she entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard for an eight month complete Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization Overhaul. There she received a complete modernization from stem to stern and had the latest equipment installed. Since 1948, the Goodrich has deployed to the Mediterranean fifteen times to serve with the Sixth fleet. In connection with these deployments, she had participated in many NATO exercises and operations, the first Red Sea Patrol in 1956, the Lebanese Operation in 1958, the Cyprus Crisis in March 1964 and again in November 1967, and Special Operations in the Black Sea in November, 1967. In February, 1962, the Goodrich was on recovery station as part of Project Mercury and the resulting successful orbital flight of Lieutenant John H. Glenn. During her years of commission, the USS Goodrich has earned the American Theater Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Medal, the China Service Medal and the National Defence Service Medal. the Goodrich also earned Anti-Air-Warfare Awards and three Battle Efficiency "E"s. The last award earned by the Goodrich was selection as the Sixth Fleet Ship of the Year for 1968 and nomination for "Our Navy" Magazine's Ship of the Year. The Goodrich returned to Mayport, Florida on 30 January 1969 upon completion of her fifteenth and final deployment to the Mediterranean. She conducted fleet operations until 22 August 1969 when she was notified of her scheduled decommissioning. On 16 September 1969 she got underway on her last cruise, arriving at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Orange, Texas on 19 September 1969. The Goodrich was placed "in commission-in-reserve" status on 22 September 1969, and was decommissioned on 12 December 1969. On 12 September 1977 she was sold to the New York Scrap and Alloy Company where she was eventually scrapped.