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Kaiserin Auguste Victoria was the first Hamburg Amerika Line ship to take the title ‘largest ship in the world’. She took that honor from the White Star Line’s 23,876-ton Baltic that entered service in 1904. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria set out on her maiden voyage from Hamburg - Dover, Cherbourg and New York May 10th 1906. After only eight years on that run, the outbreak of World War One forced the Hamburg Amerika Line to lay her up at Hamburg. The US military seized Kaiserin Auguste Victoria at the end of the war to be used in the repatriation of American servicemen. At that time, the Treaty of Versailles announced German merchant ships would be awarded to the victorious nations as compensation for ships lost during the war. This led to Kaiserin Auguste Victoria being handed over to the British Cunard line after the completion of her repatriation duties in 1920.

Cunard delayed having the ship refurbished, as they had no plans to use her in the rebuilding of their fleet. On May 13th 1921, Cunard sold Kaiserin Auguste Victoria to the Canadian Pacific Line. After being renamed Empress of Scotland and undergoing an extensive refit, she set out on her first voyage for the Canadian Pacific Line from Liverpool - New York January 22nd 1922. She was then operated on her intended route between Quebec, Southampton, Cherbourg and Hamburg. With Empress of Scotland running at a loss by the 1930s, the Canadian Pacific Line made arrangements to auction her fixtures and fittings before selling the remains for scrap. Before the auction could be completed at Blyth/Northeast England, a fire broke out in Empress of Scotland’s passenger decks. The fire spread throughout the ship at such an alarming rate she had to be scuttled at her berth. The operation to scrap the burned out hulk of Empress of Scotland took from December 1930 until October 1931.