The ship was constructed in Hebburn, England by the shipbuilders Hawthorn Leslie and Company, was 538 feet (164 m) long, and measured just under 14,000 tons.

[4] She firstly worked on the Hamburg to New York City route, and later between Liverpool and Montreal.

[6] At 23:30 on 15 June 1940, HMS Andania was hit by a torpedo fired by the German submarine UA 70 miles (110 km) south of Reykjavík, Iceland.

While other ships of the Northern Patrol were in the vicinity – HMS Derbyshire was actually within visual range – they had strict orders not to risk rescue when a submarine was suspected nearby.

However, the entire crew on the Andania was rescued by the Icelandic fishing vessel Skallagrimur.