SS Admiral Halstead was a merchant ship built in 1920 by the Submarine Boat Corporation, Newark, New Jersey, and operating originally as Suwordenco. The ship's history illustrates the state of the industry as the massive World War I shipbuilding program transitioned to an effort to sell and operate hulls in a market glutted by wartime shipbuilding. By the outbreak of World War II Suwordenco was one of the few ships operating as its owners went bankrupt. The ship was bought for operation from the Puget Sound to California ports until it was caught up in the prelude to the United States' entry into the war.