USAT Willard A. Holbrook
| History | |
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| Builder: | Bethlehem Steel Company, Sparrows Point |
| Yard number: | 4181 |
| Laid down: | as Bertice |
| Launched: | 24 July 1920 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. H. B. Miller |
| Completed: | April 1921 as Buckeye State |
| Identification: | U. S. Official Number: 221233 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | USSB Design 1029, "535" |
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| Depth: | 27 ft 8 in (8.4 m) |
| Decks: | 4 |
| Speed: | 17.5 knots (20.1 mph; 32.4 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 256 first and 320 third class passengers |
| Crew: | 209 |
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.
President Taft was renamed and operated as USAT Willard A. Holbrook throughout World War II. In the closing days of the war the ship was undergoing conversion to an Army hospital ship with the proposed name of Armin W. Leuschner but the conversion was suspended in August 1945 and the name Willard A. Holbrook maintained. The reconversion into a troop transport was modified to one suitable for transporting dependents with the ship then transporting dependents from Europe post war.
The ship was laid down as a Design 1029, later known in the trade as 535's for their overall length, troop ship at Bethlehem Steel Company's Sparrows Point, Maryland yard with the prospective name Bertrice for the United States Shipping Board (USSB). In 1919 the ship was renamed Buckeye State and, due to peace and the fact construction had not progressed too far for change, converted while under construction to a passenger liner.Buckeye State was launched on 24 July 1920, sponsored by Mrs. H. B. Miller, wife of Assistant Manager of Construction, Emergency Fleet Corporation, Philadelphia.
By May 1926 Dollar was acquiring, over opposition, ten 535s from the USSB. Opponents cited the low price paid for the ships, as well as opposition based on a single company controlling so much Pacific shipping, but the price was the result of the ships being of a design not being the best for commercial operation.
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