SS Wittekind

USS Freedom (ID-3024), c. 1919
History
Germany
Name:	SS Wittekind
Namesake:	Wittekind (c. 730–808), Duke of Saxony
Owner:	North German Lloyd
Builder:	Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Launched:	3 February 1894
Maiden voyage:	Bremen–Hoboken, New Jersey, 14 April 1894
In service:	1894
Refit:	lengthened in 1900
Out of service:	8 August 1914
Fate:	Seized by the United States, 6 April 1917
History
United States
Name:	USAT Iroquois
Acquired:	1917
In service:	1917
Renamed:	Freedom, 1918
Out of service:	1919
History
United States
Name:	USS Freedom (ID-3024)
Acquired:	24 January 1919
Commissioned:	24 January 1919
Decommissioned:	23 September 1919
General characteristics
Tonnage:	4,997 gross register tons (GRT)
Length:	124.69 m (409 ft 1 in)
Beam:	14.03 m (46 ft 0 in)
Propulsion:	Triple expansion steam engine 2,500 hp (1,900 kW) twin screw
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Capacity:	Passengers: 105 second class 1,009 steerage
Crew:	70
After lengthening (1900):
Tonnage:	5,640 GRT
Length:	140.51 m (461 ft 0 in)
Capacity:	Passengers: 177 second class 1,039 steerage
Differences as USS Freedom:
Displacement:	9,674 tons
Length:	383 ft 5 in (116.87 m) (between perpendiculars)
Beam:	46 ft 4 in (14.12 m)
Draft:	24 ft 11 in (7.59 m)
Complement:	60
Armament:	2 × 4 inch (102 mm) guns

USS Freedom (ID-3024) was a cargo and transport ship in the United States Navy during World War I. Originally SS Wittekind for the North German Lloyd line, the ship also served as USAT Iroquois and USAT Freedom after being seized by the United States in 1917.

SS Wittekind was built in Germany for the Bremen–New York service of the Roland Line service of North German Lloyd, and was the sister ship of SS Willehad. In March 1900 Wittekind was lengthened because her cargo capacity was found lacking. Later that same year, Wittekind was among the first transports to carry German Empire troops as part of the Eight-Nation Alliance intended to put down the Boxer Rebellion in China. In August 1914, at the start of World War I, the ship was interned at Boston in the neutral United States.

When the U.S. entered that conflict in April 1917, Wittekind was seized and turned over to the United States Shipping Board. Renamed Iroquois, the ship was chartered to the United States Army as a cargo ship after a refit, and, in 1918, was renamed Freedom. In January 1919 the ship was commissioned into the United States Navy, and carried almost 5,000 troops home from Europe before her decommissioning in September. Held in reserve for transport duty, the ship was laid up for five years before being scrapped in 1924.

SS Wittekind was built by Blohm & Voss of Hamburg for North German Lloyd’s Roland Line, which was a fortnightly steerage and freight service from Bremen to New York. Launched on 3 February 1894, Wittekind—named for Wittekind (c. 730–808), the Duke of Saxony—and sister-ship Willehad were the first twin-screw steamers expressly built for North German Lloyd. The new liner sailed on her maiden voyage to Hoboken, New Jersey on 14 April.