 "Tappahannock" was laid down as SS "Jorkay", a type T2-A tanker, under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 157) on 24 December 1941 at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (hull number 226).Renamed "Tappahannock" and designated AO-43 on 31 March 1942, she was launched on 18 April 1942, sponsored by Mrs. George Jessup, acquired by the Navy from the War Shipping Administration on 29 May 1942, and converted for Navy service at the Philadelphia Navy Yard between 1 June and 17 July.Nearly midway through this conversion period, the oiler was commissioned on 22 June 1942, Comdr.