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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo #  NH 104072:  S.S. Lake Weston, later USS Lake Weston (ID # 2926), between S.S. Lake Arthur and S.S. Lake Stirling circa Spring 1918

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- CIVILIAN SHIPS --

S.S. Lake Weston (American Freighter, 1918)
Originally S.S. War Swift.
Served as USS Lake Weston (ID # 2926) in 1918-1919.
Later renamed Panaghis Vergottis, Strand, Rundo, Salt, Solbritt, and Fidelia

Lake Weston, a 2020 gross ton (2880 tons displacement) freighter, was completed at Wyandotte, Michigan, in March 1918. She had been ordered by the British under the name War Swift, but was requisitioned by the U.S. Shipping Board in August 1917 and given a new name in the American "Lake" series. Initially manned and operated by the Shipping Board for the Army, in the summer of 1918 the ship transported a load of Army general cargo from the United States to France. She then became one of many steamers operated under General Pershing in the Army coal trade, transporting coal from Cardiff, Wales, and Belfast, Northern Ireland to French ports in support of U.S. forces on the Western Front. Transferred to the Navy in November 1918, she was placed in commission at Cardiff in November 1918 as USS Lake Weston (ID # 2926) and continued to serve in the Army coal trade. At the end of December 1918 Lake Weston ran aground near Nash Point in the Bristol Channel. Damage to the ship and heavy weather prevented salvage, and in mid-January 1919 the wreck was declared a total loss. Stripped and sold locally to the highest bidder, she was salvaged by her new owner and, later in 1919, placed in commercial service as S.S. Panaghis Vergottis. The ship was renamed Strand in 1925, Rundo (in 1935), Salt (1938), Solbritt (1939), and Fidelia (1955). She was scrapped in Denmark in 1959.

This page features the only view we have concerning the American freighter Lake Weston, USS Lake Weston (ID # 2926), and S.S. War Swift, Panaghis Vergottis, Strand, Rundo, Salt, Solbritt, and Fidelia.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 104072

S.S. Lake Arthur
(American Freighter, 1918),
S.S. Lake Weston (American Freighter, 1918), and
S.S. Lake Stirling (American Freighter, 1918)
-- listed from left to right --

Fitting out at the Detroit Shipbuilding Company shipyard, Wyandotte, Michigan, circa Spring 1918.
Originally named War Palm, and later named Virginia Limited, Lake Arthur served as USS Lake Arthur (ID # 2915) in 1918-1919.
Lake Weston (originally named War Swift) served as USS Lake Weston (ID # 2926) in 1918.
Lake Stirling (originally named War Thrush) had no World War I era U.S. Navy service.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 56KB; 740 x 365 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 25 May 2008