"Plymouth Salvor" (a wooden-hulled salvage vessel originally earmarked for transfer to Great Britain under lend-lease and classified as BARS-7) was laid down on 7 April 1942 at Wilmington, Delaware, by the American Car and Foundry Co.; reclassified ARS-35 on 11 January 1943 and named "Weight" on 15 March 1943. The ship was launched on 21 April 1943, sponsored by Mrs. H. E. Haven, the wife of the Supervisor of Shipbuilding at the Dravo Corp. of Wilmington; and commissioned at her builder's yard on 14 August 1943, Lt. Frederick J. LeaMond, USNR, in command.