Built during World War I, Mono, a Hough-type vessel, differs from the majority of Ferris-type vessels built for the war effort. Edward S. Hough, a San Francisco naval architect designed a ship that was intended to carry maximum cargo, but of the simplest construction. This ship type was far more adaptable to the use of young, yellow pine lumber than was the Ferris-type ship. With limited resources during the war, ship designs were also limited. There were no fewer than eight basic wooden vessel types and one composite vessel type used to produce the wooden emergency fleet vessels. Hough-type ships were one of the eight basic designs.