USS Artemis, a 8414 gross ton transport, was built at Belfast, Ireland, in 1902 as the commercial passenger steamer Iowa. After sale to German interests in 1912, she was renamed Bohemia. When World War I began in August 1914, the ship remained in a U.S. port and was seized when the United States entered the conflict in April 1917. She served as the U.S. Army Transport Artemis for the rest of the war and for over three months after its end. Subsequently transferred to the Navy, in April 1919 she was placed in commission as USS Artemis (ID # 2187). During April-September 1919 she made four round-trip voyages between the East Coast and France, bringing home nearly 12,000 troops. USS Artemis was decommissioned in mid-October 1919 and turned over the the U.S. Shipping Board. Though she may have had some commercial service in the early 1920s, Artemis was generally inactive during the inter-war decades. Acquired by the British in 1941 and renamed Empire Bittern, she was expended as a blockship as part of the Normandy operation in June 1944.