| abstract | - Kittery (AK-2) was launched as the German transport, SS Praesident, 30 November 1905, by G. Seebach Co., Bremerhaven, Germany. Owned by the Hamburg-American Line, SS Praesident operated throughout the waters of the West Indies and Caribbean. After the outbreak of World War I, she was suspected of supplying German cruisers in the Leeward Islands. Following several harrowing cruises during which she narrowly avoided capture by British and French ships, she entered the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, early in 1915 and was interned with two other German merchantmen. After the United States entered the war in April 1917, she was taken over on the authority of President Woodrow Wilson and per his orders in the issuance of Executive Order 2619-A, 14 May 1917, by the U.S. Navy. SS Praesident sailed to the United States escorted by Hancock and was refitted for naval service. She was commissioned as Kittery 6 July at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lt. Comdr. Charles Geddes, USNRF, in command.
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