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UNITED STATES NAVY
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I

Photo # NH 105954: A Great Lakes-built cargo ship in pattern camouflage paint circa late 1918

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Lake Charlotte (ID # 4394), 1918

USS Lake Charlotte, a 2239 gross ton depot collier completed in June 1918 by the Great Lake Engineering Works, Ashtabula, Ohio, arrived at Cardiff, Wales, on 27 August 1918 carrying a load of Army cargo. She was taken over by the Navy at Cardiff 18 October 1918 and commissioned the same day.

Manned by the Navy on time charter under Army account, Lake Charlotte sailed between British and French ports carrying coal and general cargo. She operated in European waters until departing Boulogne, France, for the United States on 8 August 1919. Loaded with 2,392 tons of ammunition, she steamed via Cardiff and arrived at Philadelphia on 1 September. Ordered transferred to the Shipping Board on 20 September, she decommissioned and was transferred on 23 September. She was sold to the Ford Motor Co. who scrapped her in July 1927.

This page features all available views of USS Lake Charlotte (ID # 4394).


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Photo #: NH 105954

USS Lake Charlotte (ID # 4394)
or USS Lake Silver (1918)

Drawing by an unidentified artist of a Great Lakes-built cargo ship in pattern camouflage paint circa late 1918.
The large inscription "U.S.S. Lake Charlotte" is superimposed on a smaller original inscription that reads "U.S.S. Lake Silver". Both ships were "Lakers" with kingpost pairs in place of masts fore and aft, and it is not certain which ship is represented here.

Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 555 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 107313

USS Lake Charlotte (ID # 4394)

Crew members on board the ship, circa 1918-1919.
A hand-written inscription on the back of the original print reads: "Gun Crew & Radio Girls. Note uniform of the day."
The original photograph is printed on post card ("K LTD") stock.

Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2010.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 102 KB; 665 x 925 pixels

 


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Page made 8 August 2015