The second USS Ticonderoga was a 2526-ton Lackawanna class screw sloop-of-war laid down by the New York Navy Yard in 1861; launched on 16 October 1862; sponsored by Miss Katherine Heaton Offley; and commissioned at New York on 12 May 1863, Commodore J. L. Lardner in command.
The third USS Ticonderoga was originally built as Camilla Rickmers (spelled Kamilla, Rickmers in German), a steamer, in 1914 by Rickmers Aktien Gesellschaft, at Bremerhaven, Germany, and operated by Rickmers Reismilhlen Reederei & Schiffbau Aktien Gesellschaft. She was seized by United States Customs officials in 1917; turned over to the Navy; fitted out as an animal transport; renamed Ticonderoga; and commissioned at Boston in the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) on 5 January 1918, Lt. Comdr.