 "Millicoma" was laid down as "King’s Mountain" under United States Maritime Commission contract by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania, on 4 August 1942; subsequently renamed USS "Conestoga"; launched as USS "Millicoma" on 21 January 1943; sponsored by Mrs. M. G. Hogan; acquired by the U.S. Navy on 30 January 1943; converted for Navy use by the Maryland Drydock Company of Baltimore, Maryland, and commissioned at Baltimore on 5 March 1943, Lt. Comdr.George E. Ely in command.For more than two years "Millicoma" provided valuable at-sea logistics support as the might of American seapower moved westward across the Pacific Ocean to crush the warring Japanese Empire.