USS Pocahontas ( ID - 3044 ) USS " Pocahontas " ( SP - 3044 ) was a transport ship for the United States Navy during World War I . She was originally the SS " Prinzess Irene " , a built in 1899 by AG Vulcan Stettin of Stettin , Germany , for the North German Lloyd line . At the beginning of World War I the ship was in New York and was interned by the United States . She was seized when that country entered the conflict in 1917 and converted to a troop transport . As the USS Pocohantas , she carried 24 , 573 servicemen to Europe , and after the war returned 23 , 296 servicemen to the United States . Decommissioned by the US Navy , the United States Shipping Board sold her back to the North German Lloyd line , where she saw mercantile service until being broken up in 1932 . SS " Prinzess Irene " . She was launched as " Prinzess Irene " on 19 June 1900 by Aktiengesellschaft Vulkan , Stettin , Germany for North German Lloyd Lines . On 9 September 1900 , she started her maiden voyage to New York City . On 30 October 1900 , she began the first of seven trips on the German Empire mail run to the Far East to Yokohama , the route she was built for . On 30 April 1903 , she went on the Genoa – Naples – New York run and stayed mainly on this service together with her sister ship and sometimes other ships of the " Barbarossa " class . In 1911 under , Captain Frederic von Letten - Peterssen , she was stranded for eighty - three hours on the Fire Island sandbars . Her last voyage was to New York on 9 July 1914 . With the outbreak of World War I in August , she was stranded in New York since the British Royal Navy controlled the North Atlantic . She remained there until seized by the United States by on 30 June 1917 , under the authority prescribed in the Enemy Vessel Confiscation Joint Resolution passed on 12 May 1917 . USS " Pocohantas " . After refitting and training with the Atlantic Fleet , she was commissioned as the " Princess Irene " on 25 July 1917 , Commander Junius F . Hellweg in command . Assigned to the Cruiser - Transport Force under Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves , the ship was renamed " Pocahontas " on 1 September 1917 . Through the rest of the war and for nearly a year after the Armistice , " Pocahontas " served as a troop transport , completing eighteen round trips to Europe . She carried 24 , 573 servicemen to Brest and St . Nazaire and returned 23 , 296 servicemen to the United States . Although " Pocahontas " convey all of her passengers safely , she faced numerous dangers . The most serious incident occurred in the forenoon of 2 May 1918 when an Imperial German Nay submarine surfaced in her path and straddled her with shells . Captain Edward C . Kalbfus ordered the crew to battle stations and gave the signal to open fire . However , the U - boat was not in range of her guns . Fragments of enemy shells landed on the ship , but she was not directly hit and suffered no casualties . Captain Kalbus commenced zig - zag courses , and then at full speed drew away from the submarine , probably " U – 151 " , about twenty minutes after the attack began . Making a record of , he kept the enemy out of range until her lost her . For his successul defense of his ship , Captain Kalfbus was awarded the Navy Cross . " Pocahontas " decommissioned at the Brooklyn Nay Yard on 7 November 1919 and was handed over to the United States Shipping Board for sale . SS " Pocohantas " . In 1920 , SS " Pocahantas " was chartered to the United States Mail Steamship Company of New York and began commercial services between the United States and Italy in 1921 . Events of 1921 – 1922 . The " Pocahantas " was the subject of widespread media coverage between May and July 1921 due to mechanical problems , sabotage and mutiny . The vessel left New York on 23 May 1921 en route to Naples . On 25 May , she was anchored off Nobska Point in Vineyard Sound in need of repair . A gang of boilermakers and mechanics boarded the ship to make repairs en route to Boston . Further repairs were undertaken in the Azores in June . The vessel did not arrive in Naples until 4 July , spending 43 days at sea . It was later reported that the vessel had been subject to sabotage and that some of the crew " began to threaten the commander and to damage the machinery and the electric light apparatus and even attempt . . . to sink the steamer " Just before entering Naples , the assistant engineer drowned when he jumped overboard . On arrival in Naples , the ship ' s captain submitted a full report to the American consul , who conducted an investigation . The crew , in turn , filed charges of cruelty against the captain with the Italian authorities . While the crew were returned to the United States , the ship was repaired in Naples . A " great deal " of cotton waste was found in the steamer ' s pumps , but otherwise it suffered only minor damage . Although she was due to sail for New York on 31 July , the ship was ordered to stay in port pending payment of debts incurred in relation to the repair work . The total repair bill amounted to 2 , 700 , 000 lire . Despite intervention from the American consul , the ship did not sail until 8 September . Due to frequent bunker fires , however , the ship was considered to be in worse condition " than when it was in drydock " . The vessel was again laid up on 22 September , this time in Gibraltar , having suffered further damage to her machinery . Passengers were transferred to other vessels . The ship then remained inactive until she was sold in 1922 . The then future Prime Minister of Israel , Golda Meir , was on board " Pocahontas " in May 1921 , while emigrating from the United States to Palestine . She recounts the events of the journey in her autobiography , " My Life " . Sale to North German Lloyd . In April 1922 , the United States Shipping Board received an offer of £17 , 000 for the purchase of the " Pocahontas " , which was then laid up in Malta . When the United States Mail Steamship Company went into liquidation in 1922 , the ship was sold back to its original owners , North German Lloyd and renamed " Bremen " . SS " Bremen " and SS " Karlsruhe " . After repair and refit , SS " Bremen " made her first voyage from Bremen to New York in April 1923 . She continued in service until 1932 , being renamed SS " Karlsruhe " in 1928 , before being scrapped in Germany .