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Notes on Sources

For the ship construction contracts awarded by the Emergency Fleet Corporation as part of the U.S. Shipping Board's World War I shipbuilding program 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 ships completed by the EFC 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. Other official EFC plans were copied by Shipscribe from a private collection that is no longer available. A few plans 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.) A few plans were also found in the extensive material posted by the Lloyd's Register Foundation at hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/archive-library/documents/ and one or two come from contemporary shipping magazines.

Shipscribe has contributed from archival sources the material in the "Resources" section, the update on concrete ships, and the entire section on tugs and barges. In addition he has provided all of the notes on individual designs and ships on 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).

The McKellar articles used here were the following:
- Shipslist 224: American Wooden Shipbuilding in World War One, in TBS No. 71 of September-October 1959.
- Shipslist 223: Ferro-Concrete Ships, in TBS No. 74 of March-April 1960. This list also covered World War I concrete shipbuilding in the U.K. and World War II concrete shipbuilding in both countries.
- Shipslist 242: Steel Shipbuilding under the U.S. Shipping Board, 1917-1921. Part I in TBS No. 87 of May-June 1962, Part II in TBS No. 88 of July-August 1962, Part III in TBS No. 89 of September-October 1962, Part IV in TBS No. 90 of November-December 1962, Part V in TBS No. 91 of January-February 1963, Part VI in TBS No. 92 of March-April 1963, Part VII in TBS 93 of May-June 1963, Part VIII in TBS No. 94 of July-August 1963, Part IX in TBS No. 95 of September-October 1963, and Part X in TBS No. 96 of November-December 1963. Parts I and II covered requisitioned ships and Parts III-X covered the contract ships.
McKellar also produced lists of World War I ship construction in Canada and of French government ships during and after World War I, including some built in the U.S.

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.