The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act, on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board’s task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War I efforts. United States Shipping Board program ended on March 2, 1934.
SS Absaroka was a steamer, named after the Absaroka Range of mountains in Montana and Wyoming, completed in February 1918 for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) which briefly operated the ship. From 17 September 1918 to 4 March 1919 the ship was commissioned as USS Absaroka with the identification number IX-2581 in United States Navy and operated by the Naval Overseas Transportation Service.
USS Refuge (AH-11), was a hospital ship of the United States Navy during World War II. The ship was built in 1921 by the New York Shipbuilding Corp., of Camden, New Jersey, as SS Blue Hen State, but was renamed President Garfield in 1923 and then SS President Madison in 1940 for service with American President Lines. Acquired by the Navy from the War Shipping Administration on 11 April 1942 the ship was commissioned as the transport USS Kenmore until conversion to a hospital ship.
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 Leonard Wood (APA-12) was built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation and launched 17 September 1921 at Sparrows Point, Maryland as Nutmeg State, an Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1029 ship intended as a World War I troop transport, but redesigned upon the armistice as a passenger and cargo ship and completed as Western World for delivery to the United States Shipping Board. The ship's acceptance on 5 May 1922 and delivery on 9 May 1922 marked the completion of the wartime shipbuilding program of the Emergency Fleet Corporation and the Shipping Board.
St. Mihiel was a troopship built for the United States Shipping Board by the American International Shipbuilding Corporation at Hog Island, Pennsylvania. The ship was operated from 1922 until mid-1940 as USAT St. Mihiel by the Army Transport Service. In July 1941 the ship was transferred to the Navy which commissioned her USS St. Mihiel with the hull number AP-32. In November 1943, she was transferred back to the Army and converted into the hospital ship, USAHS St. Mihiel.
President Taylor was a cargo-liner, ex President Polk, ex Granite State, requisitioned for war service in December 1941 and allocated by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) to the U.S. Army and operating as a troopship in the Pacific Ocean in World War II when grounded and eventually lost on 14 February 1942.
USAHS Marigold was a United States Army hospital ship during WWII. The ship was built as Old North State in 1920 for the United States Shipping Board as a civilian passenger/cargo liner. The ship changed ownership and operating companies several times with name changes to President Van Buren and President Fillmore before being acquired for military transport service in 1941. After government acquisition during World War II President Fillmore served as a War Shipping Administration troop transport before conversion to hospital ship service.
Coast Farmer, gaining the name in 1937 and previously bearing the names Point Arena (1928) and Riverside Bridge (1920), was a U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation Design 1023 ship ordered under the name Minnewawa and built as hull #103 by Submarine Boat Company, Newark, New Jersey in 1920 Coast Farmer is noted as being a part of the Pensacola Convoy landing the supplies and troops intended for the Philippines in Darwin, Australia after being diverted on the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ship became even more notable being the first of only three ships successfully running the Japanese blockade into the Philippines; leaving Brisbane February 1942. Coast Farmer was torpedoed and sunk off Jervis Bay, New South Wales on July 20, 1942.
SS Admiral Halstead was a merchant ship built in 1920 by the Submarine Boat Corporation, Newark, New Jersey, and operating originally as Suwordenco. The ship's history illustrates the state of the industry as the massive World War I shipbuilding program transitioned to an effort to sell and operate hulls in a market glutted by wartime shipbuilding. By the outbreak of World War II Suwordenco was one of the few ships operating as its owners went bankrupt. The ship was bought for operation from the Puget Sound to California ports until it was caught up in the prelude to the United States' entry into the war.
SS Cynthia Olson was a cargo ship originally built in Wisconsin in 1918 as the SS Coquina. Renamed in 1940, in August 1941 she was chartered by the US Army to transport supplies to Hawaii. While in passage between Tacoma, Washington and Honolulu on December 7, she was intercepted by the Japanese submarine I-26, which sank her with gunfire. Although the commander of the submarine ensured that all of the crew had escaped into boats, none of them was ever found. Cynthia Olson was the first United States Merchant Marine vessel to be sunk after the entry of the United States into World War II.
SS Managua was a Nicaraguan Cargo ship that the German submarine U-67 torpedoed on 16 June 1942 in the Straits of Florida while she was travelling from Charleston, South Carolina, United States to Havana, Cuba with a cargo of Potash. The ship was built as Glorieta, a Design 1049 ship in 1919, operated by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) until sold to the Munson Line in 1920 and renamed Munisla. The ship was sold foreign to a Honduran company, Garcia, in 1937 and renamed Neptuno. In 1941 the ship was re-flagged in Nicaragua with the name Managua.
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.
SSCapillo was a Design 1022 cargo ship built for the United States Shipping Board immediately after World War I.
Suremico was a Design 1023 cargo ship built for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) immediately after World War I. She was later named the Nisqually and converted into a barge and later a scow. She was bombed and sunk during the Battle of Wake Island.
SSNew England was a Design 1023 cargo ship built for the United States Shipping Board immediately after World War I.
SSSuboatco was a Design 1023 cargo ship built for the United States Shipping Board immediately after World War I.
SSSuportco was a Design 1023 cargo ship built for the United States Shipping Board immediately after World War I.
SSCambridge was a Design 1023 cargo ship built for the United States Shipping Board immediately after World War I.
United States 
