The ship, laid down in 1923 and launched 12 November 1925, had been completed by Aktien-Gesellschaft „Weser", Bremen and delivered to the French as part of World War I reparations.

[9] Two thousand French sailors had already left Alexandria when Athos II was allowed to sail on 13 July 1940 with the 1,000 remaining personnel of Force X and some merchant crew members to France.

[9] In September 1940 repatriated French troops from Syria and then became the guard ship at Algiers until captured by the Allies in November 1942 during Operation Torch.

[10] On 21 January 1944 the ship left New York for the Southwest Pacific but engine trouble forced a return to Panama from the Galápagos Islands before again getting underway on 8 March.

[10] On a return from a Le Havre and Southampton voyage the ship again suffered engine problems and had to put into Horta, Azores in December 1945 where troops were transferred to USS Enterprise.