United States Shipping Board
The United States Shipping Board ( USSB ) was an American shipping agency. It was founded in 1916, converted to a division of the Department of Commerce in 1933, and replaced by the United States Maritime Commission in 1936 .
history
During the First World War, a shortage of cargo ships became apparent to the US government. As a result, in September 1916, about six months before the United States entered World War I, the United States Shipping Board was established to build and operate merchant ships that were to serve the war aims of the United States. From January 1917 the actual organization was built. The Emergency Fleet Corporation took over the operation and maintenance of the fleet within the USSB.
The USSB launched a nationwide emergency construction program to end the shortage of merchant ships. As part of this program, the Hog Island Shipyard, with its 50 slipways at that time the largest shipbuilding company in the world, was built by the New York Shipbuilding Company . 122 Hog Islanders had been built there by 1921 . A total of around 1000 ships were built under the direction of the USSB. At the same time, the authority operated over two million tons of shipping space at peak times , including the German ships confiscated when the USA entered the war.
After the war, the Shipping Board owned a large number of surplus ships. The authority founded numerous liner services with these ships, most of which were operated by private American shipping companies. Some of the liner services, including the ships, were later taken over by the operator shipping companies, although the line names were often retained, others were discontinued. From 1927 the Merchant Fleet Corporation took over the operation of the remaining state merchant fleet from the Emergency Fleet Corporation.
In 1933, the USSB was transformed into the US Shipping Bureau within the United States Department of Commerce . After the United States Congress passed the Merchant Marine Act in 1936 , the US Shipping Bureau was dissolved and replaced by the United States Maritime Commission , which also took over the operation of the US merchant fleet from the Merchant Fleet Corporation.