The ship was previously known as SS Saratoga, a steamer for the Ward Line on the New York to Havana route, and considered the fastest steamship in coastal trade.

[1] In March 1911, the captain of Saratoga, Cleveland Downs, faced legal difficulties regarding the way live turtles were stored aboard while being imported to market.

[4] A later Saratoga captain also faced legal troubles, when, in June 1912, Frank L. Miller was arrested by Sheriff Julius Harburger in New York and forced to post a $500 appearance bond in a civil suit involving a former crewman.

[5] On 16 March 1912, Saratoga stood by "within a few hundred yards" of the hulk of USS Maine when that re-floated warship was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico, allowing passengers and crew to witness the historic ship’s final disposal.

On 2 June, after returning from her last commercial round trip to Cuba, Saratoga was turned over to the United States Army for service as a transport ship.

A report in The New York Times speculated that Castro was going to meet with associates and "professional revolutionaries" in Havana in an attempt to regain power in Venezuela (which never occurred).

[16] After sailing back to the United States, Saratoga loaded 1,200 passengers at Hoboken, New Jersey, on 30 July, a hot summer day.

To escape the sweltering heat aboard the ship, many of the nurses on board returned to their cabins after lunch and removed their heavy wool uniforms.

[17] The close proximity to shore, and the large number of smaller craft in the vicinity, allowed all on board to be rescued without loss of life or injury.

Panama had only superficial damage; Saratoga raised anchor and was towed near the Morse Dry Dock & Repair Company where she was allowed to settle in the mud.

Mercy and Comfort (former Ward Line mate, Havana) were the first Navy hospital ships to have female nurses aboard.

[21] Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, Mercy operated in the Chesapeake Bay area with Yorktown, Virginia, as her home port, attending the war wounded and transporting them from ships to shore hospitals.

[24] On 20 April 1938, she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register and on 16 March 1939 sold for scrapping to Boston Iron & Metals Company of Baltimore.