The first USS Sappho (ID-1427) was a United States Navy ferry transport in commission from 1918 to 1919. Sappho was built in 1886 as a wooden-hulled commercial ferry steamer SS Sappho at Bath, Maine, by New England Shipbuilding Company. The U.S. Navy acquired her from her owner, William C. Sproul of Chester, Pennsylvania, for World War I service on 6 August 1918 and commissioned her on 20 August 1918 as USS Sappho with Boatswain D. Sullivan, USNRF, in command.