On November 23, 1936, the steamship Rolandseck was launched. During 1937-1938, the ship sailed between Spain and Portugal for the German shipping company Hansa.

Due to the Spanish Civil War that started in July 1936, the austerity measures in the area had meant that, among other things, the light buoys on several grounds had been removed, making it difficult for sailors to navigate. On December 16, 1938, the Rolandseck ran aground on one of these unmarked grounds. After being pulled free from the ground, it was in Cádiz, Spain, for repairs, and in March 1939, the ship was fully repaired and ready to sail again.

In September 1939, at the beginning of World War II, the ship was in Spain. In order to be able to get to Germany through waters with hostile activity, the ship was disguised as a Danish cargo ship named Olaf. On the way to Germany, she was fired upon by an unknown ship but managed to reach the port of Hamburg late in October 1939.

On 23 August 1940, Rolandseck was commissioned into the German Navy as the freighter A30, Antwerp, codenamed Seelöwe, in preparation for the planned invasion of Great Britain.
Barely a month into her new ownership, the ship was attacked by British aircraft while in port in Antwerp, Belgium. During the attack, Rolandseck was damaged. Blah flooded the engine room and the ship was forced to undergo major repairs.

At the end of March 1941, Rolandseck sailed with German troops to Finland. The transport was codenamed Blaufuchs with the purpose of moving troops to northern Finland to participate in Operation Silberfuchs. (Which failed and the Russians were thus able to continue bringing in war munitions via the port of Murmansk)

In June 1944 the ship was subjected to sabotage while in port in Oslo in Norway and as a result it had taken on a lot of water and partially sank. The ship was repaired but on 12 March 1945 while en route from Aarhus to Norway the Rolandseck was attacked by British aircraft, coming from the south, and sunk outside Nidingen in the Kattegat. From Halmstad at 9pm fireballs were seen repeatedly in the sky at the incident. The crew were rescued.