August Wriedt was a weather ship built in 1929 as the fishing vessel Dolly Kühling.

She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine driving a single screw propeller, which gave her a speed 11 knots (20 km/h).

[5] On 22 February 1937, a crewman was killed in an accident at Aberdeen, United Kingdom when his clothing became caught in a winch.

On 29 May 1941, August Wriedt was intercepted and captured in the Atlantic Ocean by HMS Malvernian shortly after leaving Bordeaux, Gironde, France.

[10] She was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Maria in 1942,[2] serving as a wreck dispersal vessel.