USS John M. Howard (IX-75), an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for John Martin Howard. Her keel was laid down in Camden, New Jersey, in 1934 as Elsie Fenimore, and purchased from her owner, E. R. Fenimore Johnson, on 2 July 1942. She was placed in service at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 29 July. Taken to Washington, DC, and renamed John M. Howard on 17 August 1942, she commissioned there 1 September 1942.