USS City of Dalhart (IX-156) was built for the United States Shipping Board (USSB), delivered to the USSB in November 1920 and, after exchanging original steam engines with diesels, operated by the board's agents in Pacific trade until bareboat charter to the Navy in February 1944 by the War Shipping Administration (WSA) for the duration of the war. Commissioned 2 June 1944 and designated unclassified miscellaneous vessel IX-156 the ship served the remainder of the war in the western Pacific. The ship was converted to support 1,200 men with the facilities to become both the headquarters and home and advance base for the 301st Naval Construction Battalion ("Seabees") (NCB 301), a large and unique organization tasked with salvage, clearing and developing ports even as fighting continued ashore. NCB 301 was also, with the ship as its "home," the only Construction Battalion based afloat with the command and main contingent of NCB 301 aboard with detachments assigned over a wide area of the Pacific. City of Dalhart served as the NCB 301 headquarters and main party "home" at Guam arriving at a long term anchorage 11 August 1944 just as the island was secured. With detachments on other islands the Seabees living aboard developed the harbor at Guam and began constructing a base ashore. After the battalion was fully encamped ashore a year later City of Dalhart departed Guam for San Francisco 22 November to be returned to WSA in December 1945, decommissioned in January 1946 and scrapped in January 1947. Construction The ship was built for the United States Shipping Board (USSB) and delivered to the USSB 28 November 1920 by Oscar Daniels Company, in Tampa, Florida. The company built a ship designated Design 1027, standard cargo, Oscar Daniels type of which ten were built. The ship was apparently launched and delivered on the same day and not completed for some time. After delivery City of Dalhart, then a steam vessel held in the James River, was selected by the USSB to be converted from the delivered reciprocating steam engine to diesel power. Eight of the vessels delivered by the Oscar Daniels Company were among fourteen designated for conversion. Difficulty with foreign patents required new contracting for the engines and auxiliary equipment for full conversion to a motor ship. According to Maritime Administration information the ship was completed 28 February 1921 and given official number 221006; however, it is not