The ship was acquired by the Munson Steamship Line and operated by that company until sold to Cia Genovese di Nav a Vapori SA, Genoa, Italy and renamed Capo Alba.

The ship, along with a tanker, escaped Tenerife 1 April 1941 to the continent and was taken over by Germany 8 September 1943.

Sudbury was built as a commercial cargo ship for the Shawmut Steamship Company in 1917 by the Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation, Chester, Pennsylvania as hull number 340.

[4][5][note 2] When completed in March 1918 and registered Sudbury was issued official number 215991 with signal letters LJQV and Boston as home port.

[4] The U.S. Navy acquired Sudbury for World War I service on 5 March 1918, before any operation by Shawmut, and commissioned her the same day at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as USS Sudbury with the naval registry Identification Number (Id.

[5] Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, Sudbury loaded a cargo of United States Army supplies and departed Philadelphia on 20 March 1918 for New York City, where she joined a convoy that got underway for France on 24 March 1918.

[1][14] Capo Alba was bombed and damaged at Nantes March 1944 and eventually scuttled there 18 August 1944.