To reduce the utilization of steel during World War I, on April 12, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson approved the construction of concrete ships, overseen by the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC). In total, 24 ships were approved for construction. Only 12 ships were completed by the 1918 armistice. Although the remaining unbuilt ships were cancelled, a 13th and final ship was under construction at the Newport Shipbuilding Company yard in Wilmington, North Carolina. Known as the "Old North State" this vessel was the third Design No. 1070 class concrete oil tanker constructed, after the previously completed "Sapona" and "Cape Fear". Author Norman Lang McKellar believed construction was completed in 1921 under the temporary name of "Tanker No. 1", probably heavily modified from its original EFC design. "Tanker No. 1" was used by the U.S. Quartermaster Corps until 1923, when the vessel was purchased by the Associated Oil Company of San Francisco and re-purposed as the commercial oil tanker "McKittrick". "McKittrick" was powered by a single Nordberg triple expansion steam engine which was the same unit for other EFC concrete vessels.