Norman L. McKellar

Shipbuilding under the
U. S. Shipping Board, 1917-1921

Featuring major Shipslists from The Belgian Shiplover, 1959-1963


USS Alloway (EFC Design 1015) on 5 July 1918

USS Alloway (EFC Design 1015) on 5 July 1918

To view the McKellar text, click on the PDF icon or link.
To view the illustrations and notes added by Shipscribe, click on the picture.

1. Steel Ships


Steel Ships: Introduction

This introduction to the article on steel ships also applies in part to requisitioned and wooden ships.

 
McKellar text
Ship Name Index

EFC Design List

Click photos below for illustration pages
Requisitioned Steel Ships, Part I

Ships by builder: Albina Engine & Machine Works to McDougall Duluth.
 
McKellar text
 
Requisitioned Steel Ships, Part II

Ships by builder: Merchant Shipbuilding to Willamette Iron & Steel.
 
McKellar text
 
Contract Steel Ships, Part I

Ships of EFC Designs 1012 to 1016.
 
McKellar text
 
Contract Steel Ships, Part II

Ships of EFC Designs 1017 to 1022.
 
McKellar text
 
Contract Steel Ships, Part III

Ships of EFC Designs 1023 to 1032.
 
McKellar text
 
Contract Steel Ships, Part IV

Ships of EFC Designs 1037 to 1049.
 
McKellar text
 
Contract Steel Ships, Part V

Ships of EFC Designs 1057 to 1095.
 
McKellar text
 
Contract Steel Ships, Part VI

Ships of EFC Designs 1097 to 1133. Also one private order and Chinese and Japanese contracts (Designs 1092 and 1118-1127).
 
McKellar text
 

Shipscribe Addenda - Steel Ships

EFC Steel ship contracts not in McKellar (all cancelled)

Name Changes of Completed EFC Steel Ships

Names of Cancelled EFC Steel Ships


2. Wooden and Concrete Ships

Wooden Ships, Part I

Wooden ships by builder from Alabama Drydock to Murnan S.B. with McKellar's introduction. For those who miss the organization by EFC design of the steel list, Shipscribe has added a list of the wooden ship contracts organized by EFC design and with their EFC hull numbers.

 
McKellar text

 
Wooden Ships, Part II

Wooden ships by builders from McBride and Law to York River S.B. along with two Australian contracts and McKellar's comments on the main wooden ship designs.
 
McKellar text
 
Concrete Ships

Extracted from an article covering concrete ships built by all countries during both World Wars. Shipscribe has added an update based on archival data and recent research.
 
McKellar text

Shipscribe update
 

Shipscribe Addenda - Wooden Ships

Wooden ship contracts arranged by EFC design
(including those not in McKellar, all cancelled)

Name Changes of Completed EFC Wooden and Concrete Ships

Names of Cancelled EFC Wooden and Concrete Ships


3. Tugs and Steel Barges

Tugs and Steel Barges

These were not covered by McKellar and Shipscribe has provided data on them to complete the record of the EFC program.
Ocean-Going Tugs

Harbor Tugs
& Steel Barges
 

4. References


Ship Name Index: A list of the names under which all EFC ships were completed.
Use this to find individual ships in McKellar's lists.

EFC Designs: A list with descriptions of all numbered EFC designs.

Shipbuilders: A list of all firms that built ships for the EFC.


Notes on sources: For information on the EFC/USSB shipbuilding program as a whole see Shipscribe's database Shipbuilding Contracts of the U. S. Emergency Fleet Corporation, 1917-1920 in the "References: U. S. Merchant Ships" section of this website. For the construction dates and other data on all completed EFC ships as of early 1920 see the USSB publication Contract and Requisitioned Steamships (1917-1920), reproduced in the same "References" section. Some of the plans of EFC ship designs reproduced here are from the Register of Ships Owned by United States Shipping Board, August 1, 1920, also reproduced here in the "References" section. Others are from two sales catalogs issued in 1925 by the EFC Department of Ship Sales for "Steel Cargo Vessels of the United States Shipping Board," one for ships 5,000-8,000 D.W.T. and one for ships 8,000 D.W.T. and over, which were consulted in the photograph collection of the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC S-528-A). (A similar catalog for cargo ships under 5,000 D.W.T. may exist and individual sales books for tugs and concrete tankers have been sighted in NARA RG 32, but the steel tankers and wooden cargo ships had all been sold by 1925.) Other EFC plans were copied by Shipscribe from a private collection that is no longer available. A master set of EFC ship plans is listed in an old NARA RG-32 preliminary inventory as entry 214, Ship Design Drawings. Shipscribe has contributed from archival sources the addenda to the steel and wooden ship sections listed above, the update on concrete ships, and the entire section on tugs and barges, notes on individual designs and ships on some of the illustration pages, and all of the photos. For ships ordered in the U.S.A. under the British emergency ship construction program of World War I, which became many of the ships requisitioned by the USSB on 3 August 1917, see Part One of W.H. Mitchell and L.A. Sawyer, British Standard Ships of World War I (Liverpool and London, 1968). Editing of the McKellar articles by Shipscribe was limited to some repagination, indicated by blank spaces on some pages and letter suffixes on some page numbers. Sixty years after they were compiled, McKellar's articles hold up well to informed scrutiny and remain the best, if not the only, comprehensive works on their subject.

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This entire site, including all its pages, is copyright © Stephen S. Roberts, 2001-2024 or later as indicated.
The article by Norman L. McKellar is copyright © Hazel McKellar, 2007.