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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Lake Traverse (ID 2782)



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

  • Built in 1917 as War Centaur by the McDougall-Duluth Co., Duluth, MN
  • Renamed Lake Traverse before completion
  • Completed in April 1918
  • Launched 27 October 1917
  • Acquired by the Navy and commissioned USS Lake Traverse (ID 2782), 19 October 1918
  • Decommissioned 26 August 1919 and returned to the United States Shipping Board
  • Sold in 1926 to the Union Transit Co. of Chicago, IL
  • Sold in 1936 to the Nicholson Transit Co. of Ecouse, MI
  • Sold in 1943 to West India Steamships, Inc. of New York under Panamanian registry
  • Sold in 1948 to the Lawrick Shipping Co. of Panama
  • Sold in 1950 to Ponce and Panama Marine S.A. of Panama
  • Sold in 1952 to Abraham Babun S.A. of Panama
  • Sprang a leak and sank 6 July 1955, near Tortuga Island, Haiti, at position 20° 95' N., 72° 57' W. on voyage from Ponce, Puerto Rico for St. Marc, Haiti with a cargo of cement.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 4,880 t.
  • Length 261'
  • Beam 43' 6"
  • Draft 17' 6"
  • Speed 10 kts.
  • Complement 52
  • Armament: One 3"/50 mount
  • Propulsion: Two single ended boilers, one 1,250ihp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Lake Traverse 70k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    Lake Traverse 85k Probably photographed when inspected by the Ninth Naval District on 21 March 1918 while under construction at Duluth, Minnesota
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 105217    		 Robert Hurst
    Lake Traverse 107k At her builder's yard in Duluth, Minnesota, around the time of her completion in April 1918
    National Archives photo    		 Mike Green
    Lake Traverse 113k Lake Traverse is shown during her long period of commercial service under the same name between 1925 and 1955
    Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR, (Retired), 2008
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 105915    		 Robert Hurst
    Lake Traverse 36k Arne D. Larsen of Haugesund, Norway, sailed as chief engineer during World War II and disembarked some time in 1945, somewhere in the Caribbean and came to New York, where he started a paint and varnish factory in Brooklyn, NY. Olav Larsen
    Photo added 12 January 2021
    01LT Frank Perry Betts USNRF19 October 1918 - 1919
    02LCDR James Bremner Barneson, USNRF26 August 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan and Wolfgang Hechler
    View the Lake Traverse (ID 2782)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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