Converse, ordered 28 June 1940, was fitted with the original high, round bridge carried over from the Sims class. Like other 2100-ton Fletcher-class destroyers completed at Bath Iron Works in late 1942, specifications for hull 198, Converse, were the same as sister Strong:

Length Overall: 376' 5½"
Extreme Beam: 39' 8"
Normal Displacement: 2,050 long tons
Draft: Light: 8' 1"; Mean: 13' 5" Deep: 22’8”
Designed Complement: Officers, 34; Enlisted, 295
Designed Shaft Horsepower: 60,000
Designed Speed: 36 knots
Screws: Two
Rudder: One
Stacks: Two
Tactical diameter: 950 yards at 30 knots
Endurance: 4,800 nautical miles at 15 knots.

   Converse’s initial armament was that of a typical mid-period high-bridge Fletcher-class destroyer arriving in the war zone in 1943: five 5-inch guns in single mounts, six 40mm guns in two twin mounts (one between the 53 and 54 mounts; the others in elevated gun tubs in way of the after stack) and ten 21-inch torpedo tubes in quintuple mounts plus 20mm guns (including one on an elevated platform forward of the bridge) and depth charges.

Primary: 5 x 5-inch/38 cal. in five single mounts
Long-range anti-aircraft: 6 x 40mm Bofors in five twin mounts
Short-range anti-aircraft: 7–12 x 20mm Oerlikon in single mounts
Torpedo Tubes: 10 x 21-inch in two quintuple mounts
ASW: 2 racks for 600-lb. charges; 6 “K”-guns for 300-lb. charges

   Her electronics were also typical:

Radar: SC (air search) and SG (surface search), Mk 37 (fire control)
Sonar: QC

   Converse was modified in 1944 to carry two more 40mm twin mounts forward of the bridge—replacing the 20mm single mounts—in common with 157 of 166 then-active Fletchers:

Primary: 5 x 5-inch/38 cal. in five single mounts
Long-range anti-aircraft: 10 x 40mm Bofors in five twin mounts
Short-range anti-aircraft: 7 x 20mm Oerlikon in single mounts
Torpedo Tubes: 10 x 21-inch in two quintuple mounts
ASW: 2 racks for 600-lb. charges; 6 “K”-guns for 300-lb. charges

   From the beginning, Converse also carried 20mm single mounts, eventually mounting four in the waist and three on the fantail.