Nantahala was constructed as the commercial single-screw cargo ship SS Wautahala for the United States Shipping Board by the Western Pipe and Steel Company at San Francisco, California. Later renamed SS Nantahala, she was launched on 4 July 1918. Transferred to the U.S. Navy on 16 November 1918, she was assigned the naval registry identification number 3519 and commissioned the same day as USS Nantahala (ID-3519) with Lieutenant Commander Berthel Carlsen, USNRF, in command.