USS Ludlow (DD-438), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was the 3rd ship of the United States Navy to bear the name. The second and third Ludlow ships were named for Lieutenant Augustus C. Ludlow, second in command of the USS Chesapeake. He was, like his captain, mortally wounded in their ship's engagement with HMS Shannon 1 June 1813, and died at Halifax, Nova Scotia, 13 June.
Ludlow was laid down 18 December 1939 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. She was launched 11 November 1940, sponsored by Miss Frances Nicholson Chrystie, a descendant of Lieutenant Ludlow, and commissioned at Boston 5 March 1941, Lieutenant Commander Claude H. Bennett, Jr., (eldest son of Claude Bennett, General Manager of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) in command.