SS Audacious was the former Italian cargo ship Belvedere taken over by the United States during World War II and sunk as a blockship at Omaha Beach on 8 June 1944.

Belvedere was built in Trieste and first operated as a passenger and cargo ship when the city and company were part of Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Belvedere was built by Cantiere Navale Triestino in Trieste, then part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, to operate for l'Unione Austriaco di Nav.

[6][7][note 2] Belvedere was built specifically for migrant and cargo trade between the Adriatic and North or South America.

[8][note 3] The ship sailed on her maiden voyage 30 August 1913 to New York by way of Patras, Messina, Palermo, and Algiers.

[8][10] The United States Coast Guard had first taken possession of the ship and removed the crew under the World War I era Espionage Act of 1917 to secure the vessel and prevent damage to it or the port by enemy aliens.

They and members of the crews of ships brought to Philadelphia from four other vessels seized in the Delaware River were accused of causing $1,000,000 damage on orders of the Italian naval attache in Washington.

[13] Belvedere was then seized and taken over by the War Shipping Administration 27 October 1941, renamed and flagged in Panama under the name Audacious, then assigned the same day for operation under a general agency agreement with United States Lines.

[18] After repeated refusals in Congress, a court ordered veteran status to most World War II merchant mariners January 19, 1988.