SS Iowan was a cargo ship built in 1914 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company. During World War I she was taken over by the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Iowan (ID-3002). During World War II, the ship was transferred to the Soviet Union and renamed SS Tashkent (or Ташкент in Cyrillic).Iowan was built by the Maryland Steel Company as one of eight sister ships for the American-Hawaiian Steamship Company.