Before becoming a transport ship for the Navy in April 1917, the U.S.S. President Lincoln was a German passenger ship of the Hamburg-American line. On May 31, 1918, while returning from her fifth voyage carrying troops to France, the President Lincoln was torpedoed by a German submarine, U-90. She sank in less than half an hour, killing 26 of the more than 700 people on board.
One American officer, Lieutenant Eduard Isaacs, was captured. His escape and the information he provided about German submarines earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor.
