[2][1] Öresundsvarvet built Rose as yard number 38 at Landskrona, Sweden for Anders Jahre Reederi, Sandefjord, Norway.

[6] She was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine and quickly refitted as a troop and supply ship in preparation for Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Norway.

[6] In Trondheim, Alstertor sailed with a contingent of Austrian Alpine troops, known as the Gebirgsjäger, that were debarked at Narvik on about 16 June 1940.

[6] Alstertor remained in Narvik for two days, while she embarked a contingent of wounded soldiers that were to be taken back to Trondheim for treatment.

[6] In September 1940, Alstertor embarked police and members of the German Labour Front, whom were taken to Hammerfest to be put to work, building roads.

Containers measuring 6 square yards (5.0 m2) were also placed on the main deck to store large calibre ammunition and torpedo parts.

Alstertor accompanied Pinguin and Kormoran to the Kerguelen Islands, where the transfer of supplies took place in a sheltered bay.

[12][7] In return, Pinguin transferred 500 cases of eggs to Alstertor, that had been seized from Duquesa that was captured by the Admiral Scheer in the South Atlantic in December, 1941.

[13] On the 25 March 1941, Alstertor left to meet Raider 36, the German auxiliary cruiser Orion in the Indian Ocean,.

[13] Alstertor cruised off the coast of South Africa for two weeks until the 24 April 1941 when the crew were ordered, in a transmission from the Norddeich Short Wave Station, to return to port.

[13] A quantity of baggage was also loaded aboard Alstertor, that was taken from the Egyptian liner Zamzam, that Atlantis had sunk on the 17 April 1941.

[13][15][16] After the transfer was completed Alstertor changed course to head back to port, while Babitonga set course south.

[13] On the 14:30 on 22 June 1941, the 8th Destroyer Flotilla consisting of the Faulknor, Fearless, Foxhound, Fury and Forester was ordered to patrol in the vicinity of 42° 00'N., 12° 00'W, in a search for Alstertor.

They had assumed that the journey home would have been event free, but when the aircraft appeared, a senior naval officer, Oberleutnant zur See Block, had taken command.

[17] This left Alstertor's radio operator unable to decipher incoming messages from German Naval Command, that would have provided instructions on how to get home to port safely.

[17] At 14:42, 23 June 1941, Alstertor was again sighted, at a position off Cape Finisterre,[18] by the destroyer flotilla, which had been operating on a modified conforming curve of search.

The survivors, consisting of the entire crew and the 79 prisoners who had been on board, were picked up by Faulknor, Fearless and Fury.