During the 1914-18 war, over nine million gross tons of British ships were lost due to enemy action. These losses reached a peak in the three months ending June 1917 when over 1.4 million gross tons were sunk.

However, at the end of 1916 a Shipping Controller was appointed by the British Government with wide powers to provide and maintain an effective supply of shipping. An extensive shipbuilding programme was started and it was decided that ships would be of a simple design and standardised as far as possible with hulls and engines. Orders were also placed for ships in the United States through the Cunard Steamship Co and a considerable number built in Canada. In the Far East, orders were placed for steamers built in Japan and also with British shipyards in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

All these vessels were given names prefixed with WAR, but just after the United States entered the war in 1917, they requisitioned all ships being built and only a few were delivered bearing their original intended names. Many of these cancelled names were re-allocated to British built ships.

After the Armistice in 1918, many of the standard ships being built were sold to shipping companies and completed to their owners specifications.

Excluding orders to United States shipyards, 821 ships were ordered. 416 were completed to Government order, 279 were sold to private companies before completion and the remaining orders were cancelled.

Fourteen of these ships were lost in WWI, but they were lost in large numbers during WWII.

Acknowledgements to - British Standard Ships of World War I by W.H.Mitchell and L.A.Sawyer.
                                           Lloyds Registers of Shipping
                                           Merchant Fleets by Duncan Haws (various volumes)
                                           Sea Breezes Magazine (various editions)
                               The Anglo-Saxon / Shell Tankers by N. Middlemiss
                                           Sailing Ship to Supertanker by W.H.Mitchell and L.A.Sawyer.
                                           Registers of Merchant Ships Completed 1917-1920 by W.A.Schell & T.Starke.

For details and photos of many of these ships which were renamed LAKE_____ for U.S. owners, see
http://129.1.59.220/lakes.htm and type in LAKE for the ship's name.

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Last updated 09.07.08ef