[1] The design of her machinery was similar to that of her sister ship in the Caledonian Steam Packet Company, PS Duchess of Montrose.

[2] In May 1916 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to a minesweeper for the remainder of World War I with her name shortened to HMS Duchess, and was allocated the pendant number PP533, where she served in the North Sea.

[2] She was requisitioned once again in 1939 upon the outbreak of World War II, this time retaining her full name as HMS Duchess of Fife, pendant number J115.

Duchess of Fife took part in "Operation Dynamo", the Dunkirk evacuation, while under the command of Temporary Lieutenant J N Anderson of the Royal Naval Reserve.

[7] Later that year, Fife was transferred from Harwich to Kingston upon Hull, and from there went to the School of Minesweeping as a training ship at HMS Lochinvar in Port Edgar on the Firth of Forth.