Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Tags
Related Content
Topic
Document Type
  • Ship History
Wars & Conflicts
File Formats
Location of Archival Materials
Lake Ontario
(Str: t. 1,211; l. 261'; b. 43'6"; dr. 20'; s. 10 k.; cpl. 64; a. 1 5", 1 3")

Smallest of the five Great Lakes, its shores border on the State of New York and the Canadian Province of Ontario.

Lake Ontario, a cargo ship, was launched as War Castle 20 October 1917 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, Wis.; acquired by the Navy 20 December 1917; and commissioned at New York 19 February 1918, Lt. Comdr. Daniel Brown, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to NOTS, Lake Ontario sailed 20 February for Hampton Roads, Va., where she loaded 7,500 barrels of fuel for Tampico, Mexico. Returning Norfolk 16 March, she took on additional fuel and departed for Europe, arriving Clyde, Scotland, 18 April.

Lake Ontario returned to Norfolk 15 May, loaded a cargo of mines for the North Sea mine barrage, and sailed for Scotland in mid-June. During the next 6 months, the mine carrier made two additional voyages from Norfolk to Scotland, returning Norfolk from her final passage 14 December.

Following a cargo voyage to Bermuda, Lake Ontario decommissioned at Norfolk 27 February 1919, and was returned to USSB. She was sold to Ford Motor Co. in 1926 and scrapped.