"Conway" was laid down 5 November 1941, launched 16 August 1942 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, sponsored by the wife of Captain Frank E. Beatty, U.S.N., Naval aide to the Secretary of Navy in part of the largest mass launch to that point in the war shipbuilding program and the largest in Maine's history in which five British Ocean type freighters, the Liberty , and "Conway" were launched. The ship was commissioned 9 October 1942, Commander N. S. Prime in command.