Commissioning and 1944
Rocky Mount was laid down for the Maritime Commission on 4 December 1942 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey; launched 7 March 1943; sponsored by Mrs Elsie F. Lee, wife of Robert C. Lee of the Moore-McCormack Lines for whom the ship was being built; acquired by the Navy 13 March 1943; and after conversion by Bethlehem Steel Co., Hoboken, N.J., commissioned 15 October 1943, Capt. Stanley F. Patten in command.
Following shakedown, Rocky Mount sailed for Hawaii via the Panama Canal arriving at Pearl Harbor 27 December. On 10 January 1944, she became flagship of Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner, Commander, 5th Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet.
Rocky Mount was the 3rd of a new type of naval auxiliary: a specially-equipped command and communications ship, which had been improvised for Admiral H. Kent Hewitt in the Salerno operation. The increasing complexity of communications in modern amphibious warfare and the larger number of officers and enlisted men necessary to staff amphibious force headquarters, necessitated the new type.
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