HMAS Supply (I) was built by Harland & Wolf Ltd, Belfast, Northern Ireland. She was ordered as a war operations measure for the RAN as a result of a Government direction in 1951 requiring the armed services to prepare for mobilisation by 1953. Her keel was laid on 5 August 1952 and she was launched on 1 September 1954 by Mrs Foley, wife of Captain JB Foley, RAN, the Liaison Officer for the RAN in the United Kingdom.