The Washington was ordered by Transatlantic Steamship Company and laid down on 20 January 1931 in Shipway O at New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey.

By the time the vessel was launched on 20 August 1932, Transatlantic Steamship's assets had been acquired by International Mercantile Marine, and the Washington went into service for the United States Lines following delivery on 2 May 1933.

[5] With the increasing danger from German submarines, Washington and Manhattan were shifted to the New York–San Francisco service via the Panama Canal.

In Navy service, Mount Vernon frequently sailed in company with the other United States Lines fast liners SS Manhattan (as USS Wakefield) and SS America (as USS West Point), most notably on a secret assignment carrying British troops to Singapore—a convoy mission which began a month before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

United States Lines returned her to the U.S. government in October 1951, and the final phase of her career found her transporting soldiers and their families between New York and Bremerhaven.