She was a twin-screw, steel-hulled passenger and cargo steamship built in 1901 at Vegesack, Germany as SS Breslau of the North German Lloyd line.

Bridgeport completed several transatlantic convoy crossings before she was stationed at Brest, France, where she remained in a support role after the end of World War I.

After returning to the United States in November 1919, she spent the next five years along the East Coast and in the Caribbean tending destroyers and conducting training missions.

In January 1946, she was converted into transport ship USAT Bridgeport, destined for returning war brides and other military dependents from overseas.

Breslau was built in 1901 by the Bremer Vulkan yard at Vegesack for the North German Lloyd line as the fourth of seven ships of the Köln class.

[1][8] The Köln-class ships, all named after German cities, were designed for the Bremen to Baltimore and Galveston route, and were specially fitted for steerage traffic.

[2] On 20 July 1913, while making an intermediate stop in Hoboken, New Jersey, Breslau was being warped into position when an electrical fire broke out at the pier where she was docking.

[2] "Upon the entrance of the United States into World War I, customs officials seized Breslau, but not before her German crew had wrought considerable damage to her machinery.

"[3] "Not long out of port, however, a collision reduced the numbers by two when H-14 collided with Arethusa, necessitating the former's return to Bermuda at the end of a towline astern of tug Conestoga on 18 April.

Her log reflects the multi-faceted work of a ship of her type, one that was becoming increasingly important as the U.S. Navy expanded to meet the challenge imposed by a World War.

Reflecting the true allied nature of her calling, Bridgeport sent repair parties to several ships three days after her arrival, 30 April, ranging from the American armed yacht Wadena and submarine chaser SC-277 to the Italian steamship Virginia and the French tug Rene.

Underway on the morning of 14 May on the first leg of her homeward voyage, Bridgeport paused briefly at Grassy Bay from 21 to 26 May, and after picking up tug Conestoga and minesweeper Lykens on 26 May, ultimately reached New London on 29 May.

Bridgeport swung barely out of harm's way as men on her stern observed the torpedo disappear on the port side and reappear to starboard.

Bridgeport was the third such ship sent to French waters, and her arrival in August 1918 freed Panther to attend to urgent repair work in the Gironde River.

[3] After the end of hostilities, Bridgeport joined in the salute to President Woodrow Wilson when he arrived at Brest on 13 December 1918 on board the transport George Washington.

En route to the United States on 3 November, the destroyer tender spotted the American merchant steamer SS Avondale with her engineering plant disabled, and sent over a repair party.

[3] Departing Newport on 31 May, Bridgeport arrived at the Boston Navy Yard the next day and remained there through July, undergoing repairs and alterations.

Back at New York at the end of the month, Bridgeport received orders to join in the rescue effort for submarine S-5 that had sunk off the Delaware capes during post-overhaul trials.

Bridgeport remained in the vicinity until late the next day when she headed back to New York to reembark some of her crewmen left behind as a result of her hasty departure.

The ship remained at Charleston into the early part of May 1921 when she sailed for New York, accompanying the fleet's destroyers northward to the Narragansett Bay operating areas.

[3] Later that month, Bridgeport returned to Cuban waters, and served as reference vessel for torpedo-firing exercises off Manzanillo early in February.

She lay anchored there through the end of March and was among the ships reviewed by Admiral Robert E. Coontz, the Chief of Naval Operations, and the Honorable Edwin C. Denby, the Secretary of the Navy, who were embarked in the transport Henderson at the time.

[3] From Narragansett Bay, Bridgeport returned to the Boston Navy Yard for post-deployment upkeep; while moored there, the ship conducted observances that followed the death of President Warren G. Harding on 2 August.

Her officers and men assembled on the boat deck, aft, and after the ship's band had played two hymns—"Lead, Kindly Light," and "Nearer, My God, to Thee"—observed a moment of silence before resuming their work.

[3][5] Surveyed and found suitable for conversion to a hospital ship, Bridgeport underwent modernization at the Merrill-Stevens Drydock & Repair Co. in Jacksonville, Florida from September 1943 to August 1944, during which time she was renamed USAHS Larkspur.

[5] Larkspur conducted two more voyages to England before she sailed for the Mediterranean where she operated for several months, visiting Oran, Algeria; Marseille, France; and Naples, Italy, among other ports.

[6] Bridgeport was delivered to the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) and entered the Reserve Fleet at Brunswick, Georgia on 16 April 1947.