Esturia was a 2,143 gross register ton oiler, built by Armstrong Whitworth & Company, Walker in 1910. She operated as an oil tanker for the Burmah Oil Company, before being chartered by the Royal Australian Navy on 11 September 1914, during the First World War, as an oiler and stores ship. She served as the destroyer depot ship for HMAS Swan, Huon and Torrens in Australian and Malayan waters and after being dispatched to Port Said, Egypt with the destroyers she was transferred to the Admiralty.