Culebra Island was laid down 29 October 1943 as liberty ship SS John F. Goucher (MCE hull 1830) by Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland, under a Maritime Commission contract. She was launched 23 November 1943 and sponsored by Miss J. F. Miller. Culebra Island was transferred to the Navy on 29 November 1943 and commissioned 19 May 1944. She was named after Culebra, an island between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, it was the only ship of the Navy to bear this name.