From 1917 standardized designs for transports were introduced to help offset the crippling losses from German submarine warfare, and orders were placed in huge numbers at yards both sides of the Atlantic. 821 were ordered from British yards alone. At the end of the war orders not commenced were cancelled, but vast numbers of ships under construction or in service became available to civilian owners. The Atlantic Transport Line acquired four altogether, two American built, and two British, the other three being the Mesaba, Montauk, and Montana.

 

Built as the War Riddle, a wartime standard N type, this ship was purchased from the Shipping Controller, London by the Atlantic Transport Line in 1920. She was bought and renamed Maine before completion and never sailed as War Riddle. This was a box shaped ship designed for construction with no rolled plates, and with a " V" shaped stern. Maine managed to loose her rudder during her maiden voyage and had to be salvaged.

 

Was laid up at Southend in 1927 and was then sold to Arthur Stott & Co. of Newcastle for £8,000. Her new owners sold her for £12,000 to Russia in 1932 and she was renamed Skala.

 

In 1978 she was deleted from Lloyd's Register, and Haws notes that she had been broken up in 1955.