She was commissioned into the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) of the United States Navy as USS West Grama (ID-3794) in January 1919.

She was scuttled in June as part of the "gooseberry" breakwater off Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion, earning a battle star in the process.

[2][Note 2] After undergoing boiler repairs at Union Iron Works, she departed San Francisco for Norfolk, Virginia, on 28 January.

[2][9] Upon investigation, it was determined to be the wreck of the American schooner Nettie Shipman, but, with no signs of life aboard the hulk, West Grama continued on to Virginia, where she arrived three days later.

[6] There is no mention in sources of the ship's activities over the next seven years, but in June 1927, the Los Angeles Times reported that West Grama had been selected for a $400,000 conversion from steam-power to diesel-power.

[15] On 8 December, during successful sea trials of West Grama's new diesel power plant, a malfunction in a steam boiler used to heat the crew quarters caused minor damage to the ship.

[18] In October 1929, West Grama was reportedly assigned to the new Pacific–South Africa Line by the USSB,[19] an around-the-world venture under the management of J. J. Moore & Company.

In July 1929, a report in The New York Times shows that West Grama was still in South American service, sailing to Santos, Brazil.

[4] In December 1940, the USMC, a successor to the USSB, announced that it was seeking bids for the sale of 24 ships from its reserve fleet, including West Grama.

The ship's recorded movements show her calling at Cristóbal, Guantánamo Bay, Trinidad, Key West, and Pilottown, Louisiana.

In November 1944, The Christian Science Monitor reported that blockships dispatched from Boston, like West Grama, had been loaded with "tons of sand and cement" and had been rigged with explosive charges before departing the port.

[30] An account by Cesar Poropat, chief engineer aboard West Honaker, another blockship dispatched from Boston, mentions that shipyard workers proceeded to cut holes in "strategic places".

[35] Poropat reports that the corncob ships traveled under cover of darkness and, stripped of all unnecessary equipment, carried no radios, having only a signal lamp (with a spare bulb) for communication.

[38] West Grama was sunk off Omaha Beach on 8 June,[3] though she continued to serve as an antiaircraft platform manned by Navy gun crews.

By the time her Naval Armed Guardsmen were replaced by Army crews on 18 June, they had received credit for a second assist,[37] and had been awarded a battle star for their participation in the Normandy Landings.