The Russian American Line ordered the ship before World War I to be an ocean liner to carry up to 1,000 passengers between New York and Arkhangelsk.

Barclay, Curle & Co Ltd of Glasgow laid her keel in 1914, launched her as Czaritza on 14 February 1915[1] and completed her that May.

In 1920 she returned to Arkhangelsk, this time with the Allied expeditionary forces intervening in the Russian Civil War.

[3] In January 1921 the ship was transferred to another East Asiatic Company subsidiary, Baltic American Line, who renamed her Lituania.

In 1935 Kościuszko's tonnages were re-assessed as 6,852 GRT and 4,207 NRT and her old code letters were replaced with the radio call sign SPEA.

[5] The delivery of the modern motor ships Piłsudski in 1935 and Batory in 1936 displaced Kościuszko from transatlantic service.

The delivery of the smaller motor ships Sobieski and Chrobry in 1939 made Kościuszko surplus to requirements so early in 1939 Gdynia America Line withdrew her from service.

At the outbreak of World War II the Polish Navy requisitioned Kościuszko and evacuated her to Dartmouth in the UK before the Invasion of Poland.

Initially she was a troopship, but she was considered unsuitable for service at sea and served instead as a base ship in the UK.

During a German air raid on Denver, Norfolk, on 25 September,[clarification needed] she was hit by two aerial bombs, but swift action by the crew prevented the ship from catching fire.