Kerowlee was built in 1901 at South Shields, England, by J. Readhead and Sons as a commercial cargo ship.

She was named SS Kerowlee and the property of Kerr Navigation Company of New York City by the time the United States Army took control of her at Le Havre, France, on 1 December 1917 for World War I service.

The U.S. Navy acquired her from the Army at Cardiff, Wales, on 17 October 1918 and commissioned her the same day as USS Kerowlee.

Unlike most commercial ships commissioned into U.S. Navy service during World War I, Kermoor never received a naval registry Identification Number (Id.

Kerowlee was assigned to the United States Food Administration on 11 April 1919 to carry foodstuffs between St. Nazaire, France, and Danzig, Germany.