The U.S. Navys 12th Naval District inspected Yellowstone with an eye toward using the ship as a depot collier during World War I and her assigned the identification number 2657. She steamed from California to Philadelphia, where the Navy took control of her for operation with the Naval Overseas Transportation Service. She was commissioned at the shipyard of William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia as USS Yellowstone (ID-2657) on 21 September 1918.
