The first 22 ships of the class were converted from finished, or near finished, Maritime Commission C3-S-A1 and C3-S-A2 ships, with 11 retained by the US Navy, and the other 11 transferring to the RN, where they were renamed and grouped as the . was the last of the USN ships built and comprised all of the lessons learned in the earlier ships, sometimes it is referred to as its own subclass of the "Bogue" class. The remaining 23 ships were built from the keel up on C3-class designs and classified as , or the "Ameer"-class. Following the war, those ships that served with the Royal Navy were returned to the United States and were either scrapped or converted for mercantile use.