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Identification Numbered Civilian Ships Photo Archive

Lake Fernwood (ID 4410)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - King - Tare - Mike
Freighter:

  • Built in 1918 as War Branch by the American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, OH under contract to Cunard Steamship Co., Ltd., agent for the Shipping Controller, London, England
  • Launched 4 May 1918
  • Renamed Lake Fernwood prior to completion
  • Acquired by the Navy 23 September 1918 at Brest, France
  • Commissioned USS Lake Fernwood (ID 4410), 27 September 1918
  • Decommissioned 9 April 1919 at New York and returned to the United States Shipping Board
  • Sold in 1923 to the Richmond-New York Steamship Co. of New York and renamed Virginia Despatch
  • Sold in 1925 to the Eastern Steamship Lines of Newport News, VA
  • Sold in 1935 to S. A. Sharchi, Imbarchi e Trasporti of Rome, Italy and renamed Mercurio
  • Seized by the Germans in September 1943
  • Sunk by aircraft 22 September 1944 at Parenzo, Italy
  • Raised in October 1949
  • Seized by the Yugoslavian government and broken up at Pola, Croatia.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 2,330 t.
  • Length 261'
  • Beam 43' 6"
  • Draft 17' 9"
  • Speed 10.5 kts.
  • Complement 52
  • Armament: One 3"/50 mount
  • Propulsion: Two single ended boilers, one 1,200ihp verticle triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Lake Fernwood
    Lake Fernwood 101k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    USS Lake Fernwood (ID 4410)
    Lake Fernwood 298k Photographed in port, 1918-1919
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2010
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 107021-A    		 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Walter M. Brachwith, USNRF27 September 1918 - 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    View the Lake Fernwood (ID 4410)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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