She was built in 1910 as Prinses Juliana for Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland (SMN, or "Netherland Line"), which ran scheduled passenger and mail services between Amsterdam and Java.

In 1930 Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot-Maatschappij (KNSM or "Royal Netherlands Steamship Company") bought Prinses Juliana and renamed her Costa Rica.

In the Second World War Costa Rica became an Allied troop ship after the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.

[1] The ship had twin screws, each driven by a four-cylinder quadruple expansion steam engine built by Nederlandsche Fabriek van Werktuigen en Spoorwegmaterieel.

[3] By 1913 her regular route was from Amsterdam to Batavia via Southampton, Lisbon, Tangier, Algiers, Genoa, and the Suez Canal.

She operated mail services from Batavia to San Francisco, Honolulu, Yokohama, Nagasaki, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sabang.

[3] In 1918 the Entente Powers gave the Dutch government an ultimatum to place 600,000 GRT of its merchant ships at their disposal by 18 March.

She left San Francisco on 5 May 1918, passed through the Panama Canal, and on 6 August embarked 2,800 troops of the American Expeditionary Forces to take to France.

On 17 December 1918 she reached Pier 54 at the end of West 13th Street, Manhattan, carrying 111 passengers, including 41 United States Navy personnel.

She completed her final trooping voyage on 19 August 1919 in New York, crossed the Atlantic to Amsterdam, and was returned to SMN on 2 September 1919.

[16] By January 1928, Prinses Juliana's route between Amsterdam and Batavia was via Southampton, Algiers, Genoa, the Suez Canal, Colombo, Sabang, Belawan and Singapore.

[17] On 22 September she made her sea trials, and on 17 October 1930 she began service on her new route from Amsterdam to Colón, Panama.

[19] KNSM decided that because of the war, Prinses Juliana would cease to carry passengers, and her crew would be reduced accordingly.

She then went via Montevideo to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where she joined Convoy SL 46 to Liverpool, where she landed a cargo of wheat.

Costa Rica continued unescorted voa Freetown and Durban to Suez in Egypt, where she arrived on 16 February 1941.

Costa Rica passed through the Suez Canal 21–22 April, when the UK launched Operation Demon to evacuate British and Empire forces from Greece.

Costa Rica went to Alexandria, where she joined Ellerman Lines' City of Lincoln, British India SN Co's Dilwara, Khedivial Mail Line's Khedive Ismail, P Henderson & Co's Salween, and Royal Rotterdam Lloyd's Slamat, to form Convoy AG 14.

The cruiser HMS Carlisle and destroyers Kandahar and Kingston escorted AG 14 to the Aegean Sea,[21] where the merchant ships dispersed to different parts of the Greek coast to evacuate troops.

[1] Luftwaffe aircraft attacked at first light, but she and Dilwara reached Souda Bay in Crete, where they joined Khedive Ismail, Salween, Ellerman Lines' City of London, and the landing ship, infantry HMS Glengyle to form Convoy GA 14.

At either 10:00 or 14:00 hrs (sources differ), two or three bombs exploded in the sea off Costa Rica's port side, blowing a hole in her engine room and number 4 hold.

[20] The cruiser HMS Phoebe and destroyers Defender and Hereward joined Hero in rescuing all of her troops and crew, before Costa Rica sank at position 35°54′N 23°49′E / 35.900°N 23.817°E / 35.900; 23.817, north of the Rodopos Peninsula in western Crete.