Great Lakes C4 iron ore carriers converted from surplus World War II cargo ships: Part One

After World War II there was a drastic need for steel and iron ore in the United States- there was also a huge amount of surplus ocean cargo ships. Most of that iron ore came by way of Great Lakes freighters. Since it would take over two years to build a new modern oreboat on the lakes, the concept was fetched to simply convert some of those surplus ocean cargo vessels into Great Lakes oreboats. This could be done in less than a year. The C-4 class of cargo vessels best fit the concept and the work began in 1951. Here in Part One of this series we'll show you, in great detail how they were converted and how they got to the Great Lakes. Since vessels of no more than 260 feet long could pass through the St. Lawrence Seaway in this era, the converted lakeboats had to be towed up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to Chicago.