[2][3] After successful completion of sea trials, during which the vessel was able to reach speed of 13.0 knots (15.0 mph; 24.1 km/h), Storstad was handed over to her owners and fully commissioned in January 1911.

[citation needed] The ship was built on the Isherwood longitudinal framing principle, and at the time of her launch was the largest vessel to be constructed in this manner.

The ship was specifically designed for coal and iron ore carriage, and had very large hatches built, with 10 powerful winches installed for quick cargo discharge.

[7][8] Upon return from Europe on 20 May 1911 the ship was chartered to transport iron ore and coal from Wabana and North Sydney to Montreal and other ports along St. Lawrence River through the end of navigational season in late November.

[9] The ship arrived in Liverpool on 4 May and upon discharging her cargo, sailed back to North America to resume her iron ore and coal trade in Canada.

[citation needed] Upon fulfillment of her summer obligations, Storstad arrived at Norfolk on 20 December 1913 to load a cargo of grain bound for Italy.

[citation needed] At 16:27 on 28 May 1914, Empress of Ireland, commanded by Captain Henry Kendall, departed from Quebec City with 1,057 passengers and 420 crew members on board, bound for Liverpool.

At the same time, Storstad, which sailed from North Sydney to Quebec loaded with about 10,400 tons of coal on 26 May, was a short distance away down the river on her way to pick up the pilot.

The watch crew on Storstad initially observed the liner's green light on their port side and assumed she would continue to hold her course and pass green-to-green.

At 01:56, the ships collided at an approximately 40° angle, with the much sturdier Storstad tearing a roughly 16-foot (4.9-metre) gash in Empress of Ireland's starboard side between her funnels.

Captain Kendall, hoping to use Storstad as a plug, directed the freighter by megaphone to keep going Full Ahead, but due to her onward momentum and the strong current, Empress of Ireland kept slowly moving forward while Storstad drifted sideways and backwards, forcing the ships apart and allowing water to flood the liner at a rate of 60 thousand gallons per second.

With no time to close the watertight doors and many of her portholes left open, Empress of Ireland capsized and sank to the riverbed in fourteen minutes, taking 1,012 people down with her.

[19] On 8 March 1917 during World War I, Storstad was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 45 nautical miles (83 km) south west of the Fastnet Rock (51°20′N 11°50′W / 51.333°N 11.833°W / 51.333; -11.833) by SM U-62 of the German Imperial Navy.