the cameronia was launched for the anchor line on 27 may 1911 and made its maiden voyage, on the glasgow-moville-new york route, on 13 september. it was not until 1915 that the ship was employed on the cunard-anchor joint service. in february it began sailing on a new route from glasgow to new york, via liverpool. on one such voyage, in june, it managed to outpace a submarine west of the skerries, anglesey.
in january 1917 the cameronia was taken over by the government to serve as a troopship. at first it made trooping voyages from devonport to the mediterranean but was later based in marseilles. on 15 april it was torpedoed by german submarine u-33, whilst travelling from marseilles to alexandria carrying 2,650 troops, and sank in 40 minutes. some of the survivors were picked up by the escorting destroyer, hms rifleman, but the presence of the u-boat meant that the remainder had to be picked up the following morning by a sloop which came out of malta.