High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Beaufort (AK-6) was a cargo ship acquired by the U.S. Navy for service in World War I. The German steel-hulled collier SS Rudolph Blumberg (ex-SS Rheingraf) built in 1909 at Lübeck, Germany, was operating in the Gulf of Mexico, flying the house flag of Leonhardt and Blumberg, when she learned of the outbreak of hostilities in July 1914. She sought refuge at Pensacola, Florida. With American entry into the global conflict and the accompanying need for auxiliary ships, SS Rudolph Blumberg was seized there by the U.S. Collector of the Port of Pensacola on 6 April 1917. Taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, to be fitted out for naval service, the ship was renamed Beaufort, given the identification number (Id. No.) 3008, and commissioned on 20 September 1917, Lt. Comdr. William M. Gifford, USNRF, in command.