She was launched on 30 November 1936 by New York Navy Yard; sponsored by Miss Kathryn Jane Lackey, daughter of Rear admiral F. R. Lackey; and commissioned on 30 September 1937, Captain W. D. Brereton, Jr. in command [REF].
Designed and built under the terms of the 1922 Washington Naval Arms Limitation Treaty, the light cruisers were authorized by Congress in 1933.