A former name retained.
Ozama, built in 1916 at the Detroit Shipbuilding Co., Wyandotte, Mich., was acquired by the Navy on charter from the Atlantic, Gulf and West Indies S.S. Line 24 December 1917 and commissioned the same day, Lt. Comdr. P. E. Crosby, USNRF, in command.
Fitted out at Norfolk as a mine carrier, Ozama cleared Hampton Roads for Scotland early in the new year, 1918. On 15 February she arrived in the Firth of Clyde with a cargo of mine laying equipment to be used on the North Sea Barrage. On 3 April she returned to Norfolk and for the remainder of the war continued to ply the Atlantic to keep mine bases in Scotland supplied with their specialized equipment. Following the Armistice she supported clearance operations in the North Sea, returning to Norfolk, finally, 28 January 1919. On 13 February she decommissioned and was returned to her owner.
