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The United States Shipping Board was established as an emergency agency by the Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), September 7, 1916. The United States' maritime position had been eroding for decades with some Congressional concern, some remedies actually worsening the situation, with European shipping companies dominating overseas trade and just over 10% of the value of trade carried in U.S. owned ships. The 1916 act was the end result of Congressional efforts to create a board to address the problem dating from 1914. At this time the legislation was not a part of any war effort with specific intent as stated in the act: :"An Act to establish a United States Shipping Board for the purpose of encouraging, developing, and creating a naval auxiliary and naval reserve and a Merchant Marine to meet the requirements of the commerce of the United States with its territories and possessions and with foreign countries; to regulate carriers by water engaged in the foreign and interstate commerce of the United States for other purposes." A board of five commissioners was to be appointed by the president with confirmation by the United States Senate as the United States Shipping Board (USSB) to acquire and construct suitable vessels and to create corporations under its control to execute the programs. In essence, the USSB was given "complete control over American ships and shipping." President Woodrow Wilson made public his nominations for the board on 22 December 1916 with some dissatisfaction in the shipping industry about particular nominees and the board's power to set ocean freight rates raising particular concern and skepticism. The initial nominees were: William Denman (Chairman), instrumental in drafting the legislation for the establishment of the USSB, for a term of six years, Bernard N. Baker for five years, John A. Donald for four years, James B. White for three years and Theodore Brent for a two-year term. The members of the board gathered in Washington the first week of January 1917 to plan and organize while awaiting confirmation which came in late January with the formal organization of the USSB being on 30 January. United States vessels had suffered a disadvantage and the laws passed by Congress had in some cases had the effect of giving advantage to European shipping instead of the desired effect so that the country was heavily dependent on foreign shipping. With the outbreak of war in Europe the national fleets of the warring countries became involved in those countries wartime effort and were withdrawn from commercial trade vital to United States commerce. One initial step was granting authority to the President to allow registration of foreign built ships owned by United States companies to enter the United States registry and operate under the United States flag and repeal certain penalties for those using foreign built vessels. The net effect was negligible as shipbuilding in the United States declined almost equally with the benefits gained. United States entry into the war just over two months after the board began its work completely changed the focus from general strengthening the nation's maritime position to a massive wartime program. Though it was sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board the official title remained the United States Shipping Board. The USSB was to address the shortage of shipping through acquisition of existing hulls and, with the declaration of war by the United States on 6 April 1917, a construction program through its Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) that was created 16 April. The precedent for using such a corporation had been set during the construction of the Panama Canal during which the Panama Railway Company, charged with much of the construction, had its stock entirely owned by the Secretary of War. The Shipping Act had explicitly empowered the USSB to found such a company and that was done with issuance of $50,000,000 in stock all initially held by the USSB and of which a majority portion must be retained with a provision that trustees of the EFC must also hold stock. During the war Congress granted the President extraordinary wartime powers that were used by means of Executive Orders to expand the authority of USSB and its corporation. The USSB, as a regulatory and policy body, executed its programs largely through the EFC which was a separate entity that was fully under the policy control of the majority stockholder, the USSB. The Chairman of the USSB was initially the head of the EFC but the General Manager had all real authority except the power to sign contracts. The division of authority between the USSB and EFC and construction program's direction led to a conflict between Chairman Denman and the EFC's General Manager, Major-General Goethals that led to the resignation of both and reconstitution of the board and corporation. The new USSB composition that remained throughout the war was Edward N. Hurley, Chairman, with Raymond B. Stevens replacing James B. White as Vice-chairman and John Donald, Bainbridge Colby and Charles R. Page as members. Rear Admiral Washington L. Capps, formerly Constructor of the Navy and Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Construction, became the General Manager of the EFC. ==World War== Shipbuilding prior to the entry of the United States into the war had been expanded to some extent with domestic shipping companies replacing ships withdrawn from trade by belligerents and both the United Kingdom and neutrals contracting for ships in U.S. yards. The U.K. had contracted for ships through private British companies both for security and U.S. neutrality needs. In March 1917, just before U.S. entry into the war and the USSB shifting to full wartime operations, there were about 700,000 tons of new construction underway for the private U.K. owners and all 234 building ways in the U.S. occupied by either those or ships for neutral and domestic shipping lines. There was no possibility to quickly expand capacity to incorporate the USSB/EFC shipbuilding program. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States Shipping Board」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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