Caird & Company of Greenock on the River Clyde built the ship as yard number 327.

The combined power of her twin engines was rated at 1,964 NHP[4] or 14,000 ihp, and gave her a speed of 18+1⁄2 knots (34 km/h).

On her maiden voyage she steamed from Plymouth to Bombay in 17 days, 20 hours and 52 minutes, setting a new record.

The first was on 23 March 1916, between Crete and Malta, when she was carrying the Viceroy of India, Lord Chelmsford, and his family.

In each attack, the U-boat commanders seem to have under-estimated her speed, as Kaisar-i-Hind was faster than other P&O ships of her era.

He disembarked at Taranto in Italy, whence he continued his journey home by train as far as Le Havre, and then by ferry to England, where he arrived on 24 October.

[5] In 1921 Cunard Line chartered Kaisar-i-Hind for at least one round trip between Southampton and New York, for which she was unofficially renamed Emperor of India.

The American Tourist Agency chartered her for a cruise to Norway, but her design for service in a hot climate proved unsuitable.

During the cruise an explosion in her stokehold killed three lascar stokers and badly scalded four engineers.

David Niven, then newly commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry, sailed on her from Tilbury to Malta.

Kaisar-i-Hind patrolled in search of lifeboats and liferafts believed to be making for the coast, but found none.

[5] On 21 April 1938 the ship reached Plymouth flying a paying-off pennant 72 feet (22 m) long.