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Identification Numbered Ships Photo Archive

Lake Clear (ID 3597-D)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - King - Nan - Jig

Sandcraft call sign (1933):
King - Love - Easy - Option
Freighter:

  • Built in 1918 as War Laurel by the Chicago Shipbuilding Co., South Chicago, IL for the Cunard Steamship Co., Ltd., London, England
  • Launched 28 February 1918
  • Requisitioned by U.S. Shipping Board under the Urgent Deficiencies Act of June 13, 1917
  • Acquired by the Navy 15 November 1918 at Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom and commissioned USS Lake Clear (ID 3597-D) the same day
  • Struck from the Navy Register 27 August 1919
  • Decommissioned 28 August 1919 at Norfolk, VA and returned to the United States Shipping Board the same day
  • Sold in 1924 to the Construction Materials Co. of Chicago, renamed Sandcraft and converted to a suction dredge by L. D. Smith Dock Co. of Sturgeon Bay, WI
  • Sold in 1930 to the Sensibar Transportation Co. of Chicago as the freighter Sandcraft
  • Sold in 1935 to the Midwest Vessel Corp. of Wilmington, DE and converted to a self-loading hopper
  • Sold in 1943 to the Construction Aggregates Corp. of Wilmington
  • Sunk 2 July 1950 after a collision with SS Melrose in the Narrows, New York harbor.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 3,000 t.
    1933 - 2,054 t.
  • Length 261'
    247,2;
  • Beam 43' 6"
  • Draft 17' 9"
    1933 - 18.7'
  • Speed 9.5 kts.
  • Complement 52
    1933 - 27
  • Armament: One 3"/50 mount
  • Propulsion: Two single ended boilers, one 1,200hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
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    Lake Clear 58k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
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