U.S. Army Transport Buford, of 5040 gross tons, was built at Belfast, Ireland, in 1890 as the commercial steamship Mississippi. The Army acquired her in 1898, at the time of the Spanish-American War, and put her into service for carrying troops to newly obtained overseas territories. She was rebuilt at Newport News, Virginia, in 1900 and saw nearly two more decades of Army transportation work, lasting through the end of World War I. In January 1919 the ship was turned over to the Navy and placed in commission as USS Buford (ID # 3818). During the next half-year she made four round trip voyages between the United States and France, bringing home over 4700 First World War I veterans. Buford carried out one more mission while in Navy service, conveying personnel and cargo between the U.S. and the Panama Canal in August 1919. She was decommissioned early in September and returned to the Army.