USS Hugh L. Scott (AP-43) was a Hugh L. Scott-class transport ship. She was built in 1921 and spent 20 years in merchant service as a passenger and cargo liner. In July 1941 the ship was delivered to the United States Department of War for Army service as the United States Army Transport Hugh L. Scott operating in the Pacific. In August 1942 the ship was transferred to the United States Navy for conversion to an attack transport, served as a troopship in Operation Torch in November 1942, and was sunk by a U-boat four days later. 59 crewmen and soldiers died during the sinking.
SS President Cleveland was originally built as Golden State for the United States Shipping Board (USSB), one of the planned World War I troop transports converted before construction into passenger and cargo vessels launched as Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1029 ships first known, along with the smaller Design 1095 versions, in the trade as "State" ships due to names assigned for the nicknames of states and later as "535s" for their length overall. Almost all ships of both designs were renamed for United States presidents by May 1921, with Golden State being renamed President Cleveland. As one of the USSB-owned ships operated by agents of the board, President Cleveland was allocated to and operated by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company until sold by the USSB to the Dollar Steamship Line in 1925. After the demise of that line and creation of a new, replacement line, American President Lines, the ship remained with that line until government acquisition for the Second World War.
USS Henry T. Allen was built as Wenatchee for the United States Shipping Board (USSB), one of the planned World War I troop transports converted during construction into passenger and cargo vessels, the Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1029 ships. The ship was laid down as C. M. Schwab and perhaps assigned the name Beaver State at one point, but renamed Wenatchee before launch and one of only a few of the design not taking a state nickname. Originally Wenatchee was operated by the USSB's agents, the Pacific Steamship Company. A mass renaming in the spring of 1921 of all the Design 1095 and Design 1029 ships that had been constructed from keel laying on as passenger and cargo ships with state nicknames as names, the "State" ships, the ship became President Jefferson. The ship was in commercial service until laid up in 1938.
The SS Empire Miniver was a British steam merchant ship. She was originally an American merchant, launched in 1918 as SS West Cobalt. During a brief stint in the United States Navy in 1919, she was known as USS West Cobalt (ID-3836).
Empire Bittern was a steamship, built as a livestock-carrying cargo ship in 1902 at Belfast, Ireland as Iowa for the White Diamond Steamship Company Ltd of Liverpool. The ship was sold to the Hamburg Amerika Linie and renamed Bohemia in 1913.
USS Majaba (AG-43/IX-102) was the Design 1049 cargo ship Meriden built in 1919 by the Albina Engine & Machine Works, Portland, Oregon. All the ships were requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) for World War I service. The ship was bought by the E. K. Wood Lumber Co., of San Francisco, California in 1923 and renamed El Capitan. The ship was chartered by the U.S. Navy through the War Shipping Administration (WSA) in April 1942 and commissioned as Majaba.
Seisho Maru was a cargo ship for Mitsui Bussan Kaisho in military service that was sunk by an American submarine during World War II. The ship had been built as SS West Caruth, a cargo ship for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) shortly after the end of World War I. Shortly after completion, the ship was inspected by the United States Navy for possible use as USS West Caruth (ID-2850) but was neither taken into the Navy nor ever commissioned under that name. Before being sold to Japanese owners in 1928, she was also known as SS Exmoor and SS Antonio Tripcovich.
SS Mauna Loa was a steam-powered cargo ship of the Matson Navigation Company that was sunk in the bombing of Darwin in February 1942. She was christened SS West Conob in 1919 and renamed SS Golden Eagle in 1928. At the time of her completion in 1919, the ship was inspected by the United States Navy for possible use as USS West Conob (ID-4033) but was neither taken into the Navy nor commissioned.
USS West Lianga (ID-2758) was a cargo ship for the United States Navy during World War I. She was later known as SS Helen Whittier and SS Kalani in civilian service under American registry, as SS Empire Cheetah under British registry, and as SS Hobbema under Dutch registry.
USS West Ekonk (ID-3313) was a cargo ship for the United States Navy during World War I. She was later known as SS West Ekonk in civilian service under American registry, and as SS Empire Wildebeeste under British registry.
USS West Haven (ID-2159) was a steel–hulled freighter that saw service with the U.S. Navy during World War I, and which later saw convoy service during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II.
SS Antilles was an American passenger-cargo ship launched in 1906. Chartered by the U.S. Army in 1917 for use as a troop transport ship, Antilles was sunk by a German U-boat on 17 October 1917, resulting in the loss of 67 lives. At the time of its destruction the Antilles sinking represented the largest single greatest loss of American lives to that point in World War I.
SS President Taft was launched as one of the "state" ships, Buckeye State, completed by the United States Shipping Board as cargo passenger ships after originally being laid down as troop transports. Buckeye State had been laid down as Bertrice but was converted and renamed before launching. Originally assigned to the Matson Navigation Company as the Shipping Board's agent, the ship was later renamed President Taft and assigned to Pacific Mail Steamship Company for operation. In 1925 the Shipping Board sold the ship to Dollar Steamship Company. President Taft was operated by Dollar and then its successor American President Lines until requisitioned by the War Department on 17 June 1941.
Portmar was a United States-flagged merchant vessel that was constructed in response to World War I, operated by a succession of companies in the interwar period, then taken up for wartime shipping in World War II.
USS Radnor (ID-3023) was a cargo ship and later troop transport that served with the United States Navy in 1918–19, during and shortly after World War I. The ship later went into merchant service, and in 1948 under Chinese ownership reportedly became the first all-Chinese ship to visit South America. Radnor was originally ordered as SS War Indian by a private company, but with U.S. entry into World War I in April 1917, she was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy for use as a cargo ship. Commissioned as USS Radnor (ID-3023) in May 1918, the ship spent the remainder of the war transporting cargoes for the Navy. After the war, USS Radnor was converted into a troop transport and used to repatriate U.S. troops home from France.
Antinous was a Design 1015 ship steam cargo ship built in 1919–1920 by Guy M. Standifer Construction Company of Vancouver for the United States Shipping Board as part of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to restore the nation's Merchant Marine. The vessel was chiefly employed on the Gulf to Europe routes throughout her career. In September 1942, while on a passage to British Guiana to load her cargo, she was torpedoed and sunk by German submarines operating at the time in the Caribbean.
The Design 1023 ship was a steel-hulled cargo ship design approved for mass production by the United States Shipping Board's (USSB) Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) in World War I. Like many of the early designs approved by the EFC, the Design 1023 did not originate with the EFC itself but was based on an existing cargo ship designed by Theodore E. Ferris for the United States Shipping Board (USSB). The ships, to be built by the Submarine Boat Corporation of Newark, New Jersey, were the first to be constructed under a standardized production system worked out by Ferris and approved by the USSB.
Submarine Boat Company was a large-scale World War I ship manufacturing shipyard, located at Newark, New Jersey's Port of Newark. Submarine Boat Company operated as a subsidiary of the Electric Boat Company, now General Dynamics Electric Boat. Submarine Boat Company was founded in April 1915 to meet the demand for ships for World War I. Submarine Boat Corporation built the Design 1023 ships, this was a steel-hulled cargo ship. Submarine Boat Company built merchant cargo ships from 1917 to 1922. Submarine Boat Company was to able to complete ships quickly as they had other shipyards prefabricate about 80% of the hull. Submarine Boat Company worked with: Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation in Bristol, Pennsylvania, and American International Shipbuilding, in Hog Island, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During World War I, at its peak, the shipbuilding the company employed 25,000 people. The Submarine Boat Company received a 150 shipbuilding contract from the United States Shipping Board (USSB)'s Emergency Fleet Corporation, and 118 ships were completed before the contract was canceled. Submarine Boat Company built and sold the last 32 ships on their own for the Transmarine shipping line. After the war in 1920, Submarine Boat built 30 206-ton barges for Transmarine. With no more contracts, the shipyard closed in 1922 and the company went into receivership in 1929. For World War II the shipyard was reopened by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. Federal Shipbuilding operated its main shipyard 2.8 miles (4.5 km) north of the Submarine Boat Company shipyard, where Uncommon Carrier Inc. in Kearny, New Jersey is now located. The location of the former Submarine Boat Company shipyard is at the Toyota Logistics Services Inc. automobile terminal, 390 E. Port Street, Newark, just south of Interstate 78. Notable ships: SS Mopang, SS Admiral Halstead, SS Coast Trader and SS Coast Farmer.
SS Coast Trader was built as the cargo ship SS Holyoke Bridge in 1920 by the Submarine Boat Company in Newark, New Jersey. The Coast Trader was torpedoed and sank 35 miles (56 km) south west of Cape Flattery, off the Strait of Juan de Fuca in U.S. state of Washington by the Japanese submarine I-26. Survivors were rescued by schooner Virginia I and HMCS Edmundston. She rests on the ocean floor at.
