Kanguroo was powered by a 850-metric-horsepower (630 kW) triple-expansion steam engine driving a single shaft that gave her a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

The stern contained the engine, bridge, crew accommodations, workshops, pumps, electric generators and storage facilities for the submarine's torpedoes.

The well deck had a capacity of 3,300 cubic meters (120,000 cu ft) and was closed off by a pair of water-tight doors at its forward end.

Once it was dismantled, the ballast tanks were then filled to lower the bow and flood the well deck to allow the submarine to be winched aboard.

The well deck's water-tight doors were then closed and the water in the dock was pumped overboard while the submarine settled onto its wooden bilge blocks.

She was torpedoed and sank at the Port of Funchal, Madeira on 3 December 1916, together with the French gunboat Surprise and the elderly British 1,856-gross register ton (GRT) cable layer SS Dacia, by the German submarine U-38.