She became a troop ship on 1 November 1940, and sailed from Liverpool to the Middle East carrying the 1st King's Dragoon Guards. She then saw service carrying evacuees from Liverpool to New York. In 1942, "Scythia" took part in the Allied invasion of French North Africa. On 23 November she was struck by an aerial torpedo. Her crew managed to get her to harbour at Algiers, and she suffered only five casualties out of a complement of 4,300 men.