[2] Kenilworth Castle was built at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, United Kingdom and launched on 15 December 1903 before being completed on 19 May 1904.

It had a sistership named Armandale Castle and were the first mail steamers ordered by the newly merged Union-Castle Line.

[3] Kenilworth Castle mainly served on the Union-Castle line's mail service between Southampton, United Kingdom and Cape Town, South Africa.

At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Kenilworth Castle was requisitioned by the Admiralty as a troopship and took part in the famous six ship Union-Castle convoy which brought 4000 troops to mainland Europe that same year.

The accident also killed 15 crew of the Kenilworth Castle after the two lifeboats they were in got swamped while they were trying to evacuate in the misunderstanding that the ship had been torpedoed.