Northwest Steel

shipyard in Portland, Oregon. Little is known of its background or owners, but during World War I the yard built cargo ships for the United States Shipping Board (USSB). Some 37 of the 46 ships ship built at Northwest Steel were the West boats, a series of 5,500 gross register tons (GRT) steel-hulled cargo ships built for the USSB on the West Coast of the United States as part of the World War I war effort.^[1]

It was headed by Joseph R. Bowles, who was indicted for bribing a government official in about 1918 and then convicted of contempt of court.^[2] He was later described as a "greedy, domineering and difficult person, with no sense of civic responsibility."^[2]

The first ship built at Northwest Steel was the cargo ship flagged ship sunk by German submarine U-55 in January 1918.^[3] The final ship built was the 8,200 GRT tanker Swiftwind, completed in June 1921.^[1]

Notable ships built at Northwest Steel

• edit] References
  1. ^ ^{a b c} Colton, Tim. "Northwest Steel, Portland OR". Shipbuildinghistory.com. The Colton Company. http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/4emergency/wwone/northweststeel.htm. Retrieved 23 September 2008. 
  2. ^ ^{a b} MacColl, E. Kimbark (1979-11). The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915 to 1950. The Georgian Press. pp. 29. ISBN 0960340815. 
  3. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: War Baron". U-boat War in WWI. Uboat.net. http://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/6439.html. Retrieved 23 September 2008.