USS Namontack (YN-46/YNT-14/TYB-738) was built in 1938 as the Thomas E. Moran by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan, for the Moran Towing and Transportation Company, New York City. She was purchased by the United States Navy on 28 November 1940; renamed the Namontack and classified YN-46; converted to a net tender at the New York Navy Yard; and placed in service on 18 March 1941.