Sprague Steamship Co. v. United States

The plaintiff in November, 1946 purchased from the United States Maritime Commission two dry cargo ships of the C2-S-Bl type, pursuant to the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946, 60 Stat. 41, 50 U.S.C. App. §§ 1735-1746. A considerable discussion of that statute may be found in this court’s opinion in A. H. Bull Steamship Co. v. United States, 128 C. Cls. 520.

In the instant case, as in the Bull case, the Maritime Commission, in computing the price which the plaintiff should pay for the ships, computed depreciation on the ships down to the “floor price” and then added to the floor price the cost…