Lake Traverse, a cargo ship, was launched as War Centaur 27 October 1917 under USSB contract by McDougall Co., Duluth, Minn.; operated as an Army cargo transport until acquired by the Navy; and commissioned 19 October 1918 at Cardiff, Wales, Lt. Frank P. Betts USNRF, in command.
Operating out of Cardiff, Lake Traverse was assigned to NOTS as a coal transport between British and French ports. Transferred to the U.S. Food Administration 10 March 1919, she carried food from French ports to Rotterdam and Danzig until late July. She returned to New York from France early in August, decommissioned 26 August, and was returned to USSB the same day. She was sold in 1926 to Union Transit Co., of Chicago, and in 1936 was owned by Nicholson Transit Co., of Ecouse, Mich. In 1943 she was owned by West India Steamships, Inc., of New York and operated under Panamanian registry. She was subsequently operated by Abraham Babun until the mid-fifties.
