Teresa was built as the commercial cargo ship SS Austrian in 1900 by Russell and Company at Port Glasgow, Scotland, in the United Kingdom, for Unione Austriaca di Navigazione.

The Navy accepted the ship, assigned her the naval registry identification number (Id.

On 23 February 1918, she got underway from Norfolk with a convoy for France and arrived at St. Nazaire on 4 March 1918.

Teresa made four additional supply trips to France during the next 16 months.

She was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 19 July 1919 and transferred her back to the United States Shipping Board the same day.