Lake Eliko, a depot collier, was launched 4 July 1918 by American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio, under USSB contract; acquired by the Navy 4 September 1918; and commissioned the same day at Montreal, Lt. Comdr. Andrew Munkewitz, USNRF, In command.
Assigned to NOTS in European waters, she departed Montreal 7 September and arrived Brest, France, via Sydney, Nova Scotia, 5 October. Operating out of Cardiff, Wales, she carried coal from ports in the British Isles to coastal ports in France. Terminating her transchannel runs 8 months later, she departed Cardiff for the United States 13 June 1919 and reached Newport News, Va., 1 July. Lake Eliko decommissioned 8 July and was returned to USSB. She was sold to the Ford Motor Co. in 1926 and scrapped.