Two ships, Vaderland and Zeeland at John Brown & Company of Clydebank in Scotland, and two others, Kroonland and Finland, were to be built at William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia.

[2] After the August 1914 outbreak of World War I, Zeeland was reflagged as a British ship, and sailed from Liverpool to New York in September.

[2] After a period when she was taken up as a British troop ship, under the name HMT Northland, the liner returned for service under the White Star-Dominion Line in August 1916.

After a refurbishment, the liner was returned to her former name, Zeeland; to the Red Star Line; and to Antwerp–New York service (with intermediate stops in Southampton) in August 1920.

Transferred to the Atlantic Transport Line in 1927, the liner was renamed SS Minnesota and began tourist service between London and New York in April.