The first USS Defiance (ID-3327) was a cargo ship in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

Defiance was built in 1918 by Union Iron Works

Union Iron Works

Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.-History:...

 of Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company, Alameda, California

Alameda, California

Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...

. She was acquired by the Navy 5 September 1918; and commissioned the same day, Lieutenant Commander F. A. Vega, USNRF, in command.

Defiance sailed from San Francisco 14 September 1918 with a cargo of flour and naval stores, and arrived at New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 11 October to exchange her cargo for Army supplies. Ten days later she was underway for Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

 to join a convoy bound for Southhampton, England, and Dunkirk, France, where she delivered her cargo to the Army of Occupation. She returned to Immingham

Immingham

Immingham is a town in North East Lincolnshire, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary...

 and Dublin, Ireland, to load material being returned to the States. She departed 27 January 1919 for Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

, and arrived 16 February.

Defiance was decommissioned 1 March 1919 and delivered to the Shipping Board the same day for disposal.