Arcadia was built as the German commercial steamer SS Arcadia in 1896 by Harland and Wolff at Belfast, Ireland. Upon the outbreak of World War I in Europe in early August 1914, Arcadia sought refuge from Allied forces in the United States, where she remained inactive through the period of American neutrality in the war. After the United States entered the war on the side of the Allies on 6 April 1917, the United States Customs Service seized her as enemy property and turned her over to the United States Shipping Board. Armed with two 3-inch (76.2-mm) guns manned by a United States Navy Armed Guard detachment, SS Arcadia operated under Shipping Board auspices for the remainder of World War I. After the war ended, Arcadia's guns were removed at Baltimore, Maryland, on 4 December 1918, and he