SS Blücher was a Barbarossa-class ocean liner built by Blohm & Voss Shipbuilders, Hamburg, Germany, in 1902 for the Hamburg America Line, to sail under German flag.

Steam quadruple-expansion engines powered twin screws.

In 1912, she was rebuilt, with luxury suites added to her boat deck.

On March 11, 1920, she began her first voyage for Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT, "French Line") from New York to Le Havre.

In March 1923, she was sold to CGT and renamed Suffren, as which on May 8, 1923, she made her first voyage, Le Havre to New York.