The CGT ordered the 12,678 GRT steamship Rochambeau in 1908 from the shipyard Chantiers et Ateliers de Saint-Nazaire in Saint-Nazaire , where the shipping company had its passenger ships built for decades. The ship, named after Count Rochambeau , Marshal of France , was 163.1 meters long, 19.47 meters wide and had two propellers , two chimneys and two masts . Driven by two triple expansion steam engines , the steamer could achieve up to 13,000 hp and a speed of 15 knots. The passenger accommodations were designed for 428 second class passengers and 1700 third class passengers. She was a slightly larger version of the Chicago (11,127 GRT) built in 1908 and built at the same shipyard .
The Rochambeau was launched on March 2, 1911, was completed in August and left Le Havre on September 16, 1911 on her maiden voyage to New York . She stayed on this route until March 1915. From April 4, 1915, she ran from Bordeaux to New York. During the First World War , the Rochambeau remained in the North Atlantic passenger service, also because the flagship of the CGT, the France , served as a hospital ship during the war and therefore did not make any profit.
On April 30, 1917, the Rochambeau was torpedoed about 15 nautical miles from the mouth of the Gironde by the German submarine UC 72 (Oberleutnant zur See Ernst Voigt). The ship had 229 crew members and 200 passengers on board, including some Americans. According to the report of the captain of the Rochambeau , Dominique Joseph Juham, the torpedo was lowered from a distance of about 800 meters on the starboard side of the ship and missed the stern by only eight meters.
On January 9, 1919, the Rochambeau began her last voyage on the Bordeaux – New York route. A conversion followed, as a result of which the passenger capacity changed to 475 cabin class and 1,450 third class. Subsequently, from February 18, 1919, she again operated the route from Le Havre to New York. In August 1926 and December 1927 further modifications and changes to the travel classes followed. Her last crossing from Le Havre via Vigo to New York took place in July 1933. The following year the Rochambeau was scrapped in Dunkirk .
