 "Pennsylvanian" was one of the first two steamships to travel eastbound through the canal when it opened in August 1914.During World War I, as both SS "Pennsylvanian" and USS "Scranton", the ship carried cargo and animals to France, and returned American troops after the Armistice in 1918.After her naval service ended in 1919, she was returned to her original owners and resumed relatively uneventful cargo service over the next twenty years.