USS Freedom, a 5640 gross ton troop transport, was built in 1894 at Hamburg, Germany, as the German passenger-cargo steamer Wittekind. Seized by the United States Government in 1917, she was renamed Iroquois and operated under charter to the U.S. Army during the rest of World War I. The ship was renamed Freedom in mid-1918 and, in January 1919, was turned over to the Navy and assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force. During the next seven months she was engaged in returning American servicemen from France, making three round-trip voyages during that time. USS Freedom was decommissioned in September 1919 and given back to the U.S. Shipping Board.