Henderson Line employed British officers; lascar ratings; and on Sagaing's final voyage, the carpenter was Chinese.

[9] She had a straight stem, clipper stern, two masts, one funnel,[7] and light-lift derricks for her cargo hatches fore and aft.

In 1939 a Bauer-Wach exhaust steam turbine was added, which drove the same shaft as the piston engine, via double-reduction gearing and a Föttinger fluid coupling.

[13] Sagaing's peacetime route was a scheduled service between Glasgow or Liverpool, and Rangoon,[5][6] via the Suez Canal.

[24] Sagaing continued her normal route, but using convoys in each direction for the leg of her voyage between Britain and Gibraltar.

She left Liverpool for Rangoon on 8 November 1939 with outward bound Convoy OB 32, which at sea became OG 6 to Gibraltar.

The UK anticipated that Italy would join the war on Germany's side, so it started to divert merchant shipping to avoid the Mediterranean.

Sagaing returned from Rangoon via the Cape of Good Hope and the South Atlantic, and called at Freetown in Sierra Leone, where she joined Convoy SL 35.

On 10 February 1942, Sagaing left Glasgow carrying a cargo that included disassembled Hawker Hurricanes; a large quantity of ammunition; mines; and about 2,300 depth charges.

[30] She also carried 20,000 cases each of Allsopp beer and Johnnie Walker Red Label whisky.

Also, Henderson Line was seeking to transfer her from the British & Burmese Steam Navigation Company to the Burmah Steamship Co, Ltd, to avoid Board of Trade shipping regulations.

[27] A Browning anti-aircraft gun had been supplied as DEMS armament, but its installation on her poop deck had not been carried out.

An all-clear signal was given, but shortly thereafter, aircraft of the Japanese Navy's Kidō Butai ("Mobile Strike Force") attacked Trincomalee Harbour.

The first wave of the attack on Sagaing caused explosions fore and aft, and incapacitated her Master, Captain O'Hara, who was on her bridge.

[38] It killed three members of Sagaing's crew,[39][40][41] and the partner and baby son of one of the junior deck officers.

[22][43] On 11 September 2017, the Eastern Command of the Sri Lanka Navy was tasked with salvaging and relocating the wreck, to make room to expand the harbour.

[citation needed] The hulk was strengthened, and a prefabricated artificial side to the ship was be installed in order to make the wreck watertight enough below deck level to de-water and refloat her.

[43] The operation took five months; permanently employed a team of 98 divers; and used a crane barge lent by the Tokyo Cement Company.