Carpellotti, originally designated DE-720, a Rudderow-class destroyer escort, was re-designated as APD-136, a fast transport, on 17 July 1944, even before being laid down on 31 October 1944 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company, in Bay City, Michigan. She was launched on 10 March 1945; sponsored by Mrs. S. Carpellotti. Builders trials before her pre-commissioning cruise were done in Lake Huron.