中立パトロール
Recommissioned 18 December 1939, Lieutenant William Giers Michelet in command, "Kennison" joined the Neutrality Patrol out of San Diego on 6 May 1940. From June to September she engaged in reserve training cruises before rejoining the Neutrality Patrol on 14 October. The destroyer continued patrol operations along the West Coast until the United States entered World War II. As the war effort increased in early 1942, "Kennison" intensified her anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations including escort of convoys and submarines to various California ports until 22 September 1944 when she sailed for Bremerton, Washington to undergo conversion.