USS Von Steuben, a 23,500-ton troop transport, was built in Stettin, Germany, in 1901 as the passenger liner Kronprinz Wilhelm. She served as a German Navy commerce raider during the first eight months of World War I, then was interned in the United States from April 1915 until April 1917. Kronprinz Wilhelm was seized when the U.S. entered the conflict, turned over to the Navy and commissioned as USS Von Steuben in June 1917. Initially intended to serve as an auxiliary cruiser, her mission was changed to troop carrying in September, while she was still in the shipyard for repairs and alterations.

Von Steuben began her active service in late September 1917. She operated along the U.S. east coast until the end of October, when she left New York to take U.S. troops and other personnel to Europe. This voyage was marred by a collision with USS Agamemnon on 9 November, but the ship successfully delivered her passengers to Brest, France. In December, on the return leg of the trip, Von Steuben rendered assistance at Halifax, Nova Scotia, after the explosion there of the ammunition ship Mont Blanc. After a few months of operations between the U.S. and Panama, the tranport returned to trans-Atlantic troop transport duty in February 1918. Up to the Armistice in November of that year, Von Steuben completed eight more round-trips to France. This essential work was marked by several notable incidents, including the explosion of one of her guns in March, an unsuccessful attack by the German submarine U-151 in June and the rescue of some two-thousand passengers from the burning transport USS Henderson in July. During September and October, she weathered a severe storm and suffered an outbreak of influenza on board that took nearly three-dozen lives.

Under repair from November 1918, Von Steuben resumed transport service in early March 1919 and brought thousands of Americans home from Europe over the next several months. The ship was decommissioned in October 1919 and turned over to the U.S. Shipping Board. Under the names Baron Von Steuben and Von Steuben, she operated in commercial service until 1923, when she was scrapped.