Fort Stikine only had a short career, and was destroyed in an explosion at Bombay, India, in April 1944 that caused the loss of a further 13 ships.

[2][3][4] Ownership was retained by WSA with the Ministry of War Transport placing her under the management of the Port Line.

[1] Fort Stikine departed from New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada on 7 September 1942 and arrived at Vancouver the next day.

Fort Stikine sailed that day for Los Angeles, California, United States, where she arrived on 23 September.

[5] The convoy consisted eighteen merchant vessels escorted by six United States Navy warships.

The unescorted convoy, comprising 19 merchant ships, arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 25 April.

[13] Laden with a cargo of iron ore, Fort Stikine departed with Convoy SL 129 on 11 May.

[15] Fort Stikine left the convoy before arrival at Liverpool and entered Loch Ewe.

[16] She then joined Convoy EN 246 which sailed the next day and arrived at Loch Ewe on 24 June.

The unescorted convoy, consisting of 18 merchant vessels, arrived at Durban, South Africa, on 29 October.

[5] The unescorted convoy, consisting 20 merchant ships in total, had departed from Durban five days earlier and arrived at Aden on 28 November,[20] but Fort Stikine had put into Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika, where she arrived on 17 November.

The convoy, consisting 106 merchant ships escorted by 16 warships over its duration, arrived at the Hampton Roads on 17 January 1944.

[5] Laden with copper, sisal, and general cargo, Fort Stikine departed from Gibraltar on 11 January 1944 as a member of Convoy MKS 36G.

She was also carrying 12 Supermarine Spitfire aircraft, some gliders, and a further quantity of explosives that were destined to be offloaded at Karachi, India.

The convoy, consisting of 49 merchant ships escorted by 12 warships, split at sea on 5 March.

[23] Fort Stikine continued her voyage as part of Convoy KMS 43, which departed from Gibraltar that day.

The convoy, consisting 81 merchant ships and four escorting warships, arrived at Port Said on 16 March,[26] having evaded an attack by four Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor aircraft.

[5] To replace the cargo offloaded at Karachi, 8,700 bales of raw cotton were loaded, along with various quantities of fish manure, resin, rice, scrap iron, sulphur, and timber.

The ship's officers also expressed concerns over mixing the cargoes of cotton and the oil and explosives, but were unable to find paperwork that advised against this practice.

In 1942, the United States government had published a book that advised against the carriage of raw cotton.

Tarpaulins were nailed over the lower hold covers and the firefighting equipment on board was thoroughly tested.

The practice of flying a red flag to signify dangerous cargo on board had been discontinued in wartime, as doing so would identify such vessels in the event of an enemy air raid on a port.

Minor engine repairs also started at that time, rendering the ship unable to move under her own power.

The fire pump in the ship's engine room was started and the firefighting operation began.

[23] With crew members and stevedores abandoning ship, the dock authorities realized that there was a problem on board Fort Stikine.

Those on board Fort Stikine were unable to discover the seat of the fire and water was poured blindly into the hold.

Captain Oberst, of the Indian Army Ordnance Corps, arrived a few minutes later to assess the situation.

Oberst stated that Fort Stikine had explosives equivalent to 150 blockbuster bombs on board and that the ship should be scuttled.

An argument developed and Colonel Sadler's parting remark was that the ship would probably explode before she could be taken out of port.

The report released on 11 September 1944 concluded that the fire and subsequent explosion on Fort Stikine was an accident.