In March 1885, Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT), announced the building of four new steamers for the Le Havre–New York route at the company's Penhoët ship yard.

Equipped with twin triple-expansion steam engines driving a single screw propeller that drove her at 17 knots (31 km/h), she was outfitted with two funnels and four masts carrying a barquentine rig.

[2] Her hull was made of steel from the foundries at Terre-Noire and featured eleven bulkheads which created twelve watertight compartments; her deck was planked with Canadian elm and teak.

[7] In April 1898, The New York Times reported on a rescue at sea accomplished by La Bretagne's crew that had happened late the previous month.

Encountering the dismasted British bark Bothnia, the crew of La Bretagne effected rescue of the stricken ship's master and ten surviving crewmen.

Barbarossa's crew—in a panic, according to a Chicago Daily Tribune news story—turned the big liner around and hastily headed back to her pier, ramming the docked La Bretagne in her starboard quarter in the process.

Princess Alice, departing for Bremen from New York in a fog, steered clear of La Bretagne and instead ran hard aground near the seawall of Fort Wadsworth.

On her August 1902 crossing, a group of about 30 first-cabin passengers formed a vegetarian society, which they called "La Société des Legumineux", that gave the steward fits because they ignored the chef's signature meat dishes of roast beef and Philadelphia chicken.

[17] In 1912, the newly reorganized Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique purchased a number of second-hand ships—including La Bretagne—for its relaunch of South American service from France.