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TELESCOPE August 173 LAKERS OF WORLD WAR I: THE WARS When the United States entered the First War in early 1917, there were approximately ninety-nine ocean type freighters under construction.or under contract in Great Lakes shipyards. With a few exceptions, these vessels were basically Fredrikstad type freighters. The exceptions included two "over-size" (345 feet long) three island type vessels which were later bulkheaded through the canals. In addition there were four engines-aft ships of a design developed by Great Lakes Engineering Works for the American coastwise coal trade between Hampton Roads and New England. And two diesel jobs were building at Manitowoc for Scandinavia. Of the remaining 93 ships, the largest group was intended ultimately for the well known British line, Cunard Steamship Co. of Liverpool. These had been contracted for either by Cunard directly or through various British and American brokers acting in their behalf. Following the British tradition of nomenclature in World War I, these vessels were given two-word names, the first word of which was "War. " The United States Shipping Board requisitioned all 99 of these ships in May, 1917, for American flag service. There was a lot of litigation involved, and not everybody was happy about the final outcome. But the requisitioning was done, and these vessels subsequently flew the American flag. At that time, no American system of nomenclature had been selected, so apparently the Shipping Board decided to keep the British "War" names for a while at least. In due time, a new series of names for Great Lakes built ships was determined upon, using the name "Lake" as the first word. Some sources credit this system to Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. Be this the case or not, most of the requisitioned vessels were renamed with "Lake" names. (Note: Five of the "Wars" were delivered to their British owners before the United States entered the war, and in this way escaped the "Lake" renaming.) Here follows a list of the Great Lakes built "Wars" : PHOTOGRAPHS ON OPPOSITE PAGE Above: Lake Conesus (the former War Gnome), photograph from the Dossin Museum Collection. Below: Catherine (the former War Mist and Lake Greenwood), photograph from Photo Bank of the Steamship Historical Society of America.