Lakewood, a 1948 gross ton freighter, was completed at Wyandotte, Michigan, in November 1917. She had been ordered by the British under the name War Honour, but was requisitioned by the U.S. Shipping Board in August 1917 and renamed. Turned over to the Navy soon after completion, the ship was placed in commission at Norfolk, Virginia, in December 1917 as USS Lakewood (with no ID # assigned). She took on a full cargo of supplies and sailed in January 1918 to join a convoy at Halifax, but ran aground in Buzzards Bay and was refloated only after jettisoning her cargo. Once afloat, Lakewood reloaded her cargo and took it to Boston, Massachusetts, where she discharged it. The ship then carried a cargo of coal to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and brought a load of sugar back to Philadelphia. In April 1918 Lakewood made her first Transatlantic crossing, taking a cargo of coal to the Clyde. In June the ship sailed again from Norfolk, this time with a cargo of mines and general supplies for the North Sea Mine Barrage. She delivered a second load of mines to Scottish ports in September. Delayed by bad weather and repairs to a leak in her fore hold, Lakewood returned to Norfolk in December, following the end of World War I's fighting. After making two voyages carrying coal to ports in New England, she was decommissioned in February 1919 and returned to the Shipping Board. During subsequent civilian employment, S.S. Lakewood was named Cambrier in 1920, Cap d'Alprecht in 1924, Biodd in 1931, and Yung Chi in 1933. She was scuttled in the Yangtse River, China, in August 1937.
Note: The name of this ship is sometimes rendered as Lake Wood, probably in error. In addition, the official record card filed under the name Cambrier (ex-Lakewood), with registry ID # 2555, apparently is the product of World War I era clerical error. It actually concerns a Great Lakes freighter built in 1884 which, though also named Lakewood, was of completely different configuration to the ship covered on this page.
This page features the only view we have concerning S.S. Lakewood and War Honour, USS Lakewood, and S.S. Cambrier, Cap d'Alprecht, Biodd, and Yung Chi
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If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 30 April 2008