[2][3] The hull of the USNS Upshur was laid down on September 1, 1949 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey as the SS President Hayes.

[3][4] Reassigned to the US Navy and renamed USNS Upshur, she served the Military Sea Transportation Service from 1952 to 1973.

[1] Over her years of service she performed many routine missions, carrying military members and their families safely across the seas in an era when air travel was uncommon, as well as special missions, such as the emergency evacuation of military families from Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in 1962.

[1] In 2005, Hurricane Katrina broke the ex-USNS Upshur free of her moorings and settled her 500 feet across the Mobile River on the bank of a coal terminal.

USNS Upshur is associated with noted naval architect George G. Sharp and participated in several notable events in U.S. history, but, based on her current condition, MARAD has determined that she is not eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.