SS Minnesota was an American built ocean-liner operated by the Great Northern Steamship Company which was owned by James J.

[5] Minnesota was sold in January 1917 to the Atlantic Transport Company of West Virginia, part of J. P. Morgan's International Mercantile Marine Company, reaching New York in March where she was armed in accordance with measures authorized for merchant ships and received a U.S. Navy armed guard gun crew.

[3] The ship was in English waters when the United States declared war and made seven wartime round trips.

[3] During one of the New York port calls the ship was inspected and accepted for U.S. Navy use assigned the identification number 1614 until the end of hostilities whereupon the armament and naval personnel were removed.

[3] The Navy chartered Minnesota to bring troops home, renamed the ship Troy and placed her in commission at the Army's Bush Terminal in Brooklyn, N.Y., on 27 February 1919 under the command of Lt. Comdr.