The ship was built in 1942 as the commercial oil tanker ElKay, a type T2-A tanker, by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. in Chester, Pennsylvania as hull number 227 and USMC number 158. Acquired by the United States Navy from the Maritime Commission on 31 July 1942, she was commissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, on 11 September 1942, Capt. Thomas H. Bell in command.