During World War II, the ship was known as both USAT George Washington and, briefly, as USS Catlin (AP-19), in a short, second stint in the US Navy.

Throughout her German passenger career, contemporary news accounts often reported on notable persons—typically actors, singers, and politicians—who sailed on George Washington.

At the outbreak of World War I, George Washington was interned by the then-neutral United States, until that country entered into the conflict in April 1917.

During World War II, the ship was re-commissioned by the US Navy as USS Catlin (AP-19) for about six months and was operated by the British under Lend-Lease, but her old coal-fired engines were too slow for effective combat use.

After her boilers were converted to oil fuel, the ship was chartered to the US Army as USAT George Washington and sailed around the world in 1943 in trooping duties.

Because she was designed to emphasize comfort over speed, George Washington's engines consumed an economical 350 long tons (360 t) of coal daily, or about one-third as much as the Cunard speedsters Lusitania and Mauretania.

[10] The first-class passenger section included 31 cabins with attached baths,[11] and the liner's imperial suites were designed by German architect Rudolf Alexander Schröder.

[11] The first class public rooms were "sumptuously appointed",[10] and included murals by German fresco artist Otto Bollhagen that commemorated the life and times of George Washington.

[10] The upper and lower floors of the smoking room were joined by a broad staircase which helped, according to a report in The New York Times, make it "one of the most attractive parts" of the first-class areas.

The dining room was decorated in white and gold, with a gilded dome rising above, while its walls featured floral designs executed against a blue background.

[12][14] Upon her arrival in New York on 20 June, George Washington was greeted by the unfurling of the official banner of the League of Peace from the Singer Building,[Note 2] and docked at 18:30 at the North German Lloyd piers in Hoboken, New Jersey.

[12] Sailing on her first eastbound journey on 1 July,[17] George Washington commenced regular service between Bremen and New York with intermediate stops in Southampton and Cherbourg.

[5] North German Lloyd considered the Washington, as her crew affectionately called her,[2] such a success that they soon ordered another liner of similar, but slightly larger, size.

[20] While headed to New York on the morning of 14 April 1912, crew aboard George Washington observed a large iceberg as the ship passed south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

The White Star steamship Titanic, some 250 nautical miles (460 km) east of George Washington's position, acknowledged receipt of the warning,[21] one of several her radio operators received.

[25] In December, disgraced Arctic explorer Frederick Cook arrived on the liner; conflicting opinions on the veracity of his claims of reaching the North Pole nearly caused a fight to erupt on board.

An organization called the National Society for Protection of Morals was protesting the presence of nude figures in sculptures he executed for the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg.

The liner was carrying a shipment from India of 6 white peacocks, 2 lions, 2 elephants, 150 monkeys, and some 2,000 canaries destined for the recently organized Saint Louis Zoological Park.

Nathan Straus, co-owner with his brother Isidor of R.H. Macy & Company, sailed as the US delegate to the third world congress for the protection of infants held in Berlin.

[40] George Washington sailed with her first load of troops 4 December 1917 and during the next 2 years made 18 round trip voyages in support of the American Expeditionary Forces.

President Woodrow Wilson and the American representatives to the Paris Peace Conference sailed for Europe in George Washington 4 December 1918.

On this crossing she was protected by Pennsylvania, and was escorted into Brest, France, 13 December by ten battleships and twenty-eight destroyers in an impressive demonstration of American naval strength.

It was printed on a small hand press – 5,000 copies with the first issue but this was increased to 7,000 – and titled The Hatchet (a reference to the tale about George Washington and the cherry tree).

[47] After her delivery to the United States Shipping Board (USSB), George Washington was used to transport 250 members of the American Legion to France as guests of the French Government in 1921.

A secondary contributing factor was the difficulty in manning her with sufficient skilled stokers – the role having been supplanted with the steady introduction of oil fired ships in the 1930s.

Returning to Los Angeles, she sailed again in September to Bombay and Cape Town, and arrived at New York to complete her round-the-world voyage in December 1943.

In January 1944 George Washington began regular service to the United Kingdom and the Mediterranean, again carrying troops in support of the Allies in Europe.