She was laid up in New Orleans, Louisiana, until late 1940 when she was reactivated and refitted to carry American defense-related cargos to Africa and chromium and manganese ore to the United States.

Continuing in African service after the United States entered World War II, she was diverted in March 1942 for one round trip to the Soviet Union, enduring German attacks that earned her U.S. Navy Armed Guard a battle star.

In March 1944, she sailed from the United States for one final time, and was scuttled in June as part of the "gooseberry" breakwater off Utah Beach during the Normandy invasion, earning a second battle star in the process.

[2] West Cheswald was inspected by the 13th Naval District of the United States Navy after completion for possible use as a service collier and was assigned the identification number of 4199.

On 30 September 1920, West Cheswald took on a load of white sugar at Java and headed for the United States via the Suez Canal.

While she was near Bermuda, West Cheswald was diverted from her original destination of New York to Philadelphia, to deliver her cargo in fulfillment of an order.

[Note 1] After litigation and various appeals, the case ended up before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1928 as Lamborn v. National Bank of Commerce, 276 U.S. 469 (1928).

[10] In June 1940, as World War II raged in Europe, the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) (a successor to the USSB) announced bidding for the reconditioning of West Cheswald and nine other ships that were in the reserve fleet.

[11] In February 1941, the USMC announced another round of bidding, this time for the operation of West Cheswald and three other ships on defense routes to southern and eastern Africa.

The ships would carry defense cargo to African ports and return loads of chromium and manganese ore—both needed for the production of steel for armaments—to the United States.

Beginning the next day, West Cheswald visited Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, Mombasa, Tanga, and Zanzibar through 11 June.

[4] After returning to New York on 31 May by way of Reykjavík and Halifax, West Cheswald made a brief trip to Philadelphia and back before she worked her way down the East Coast to Norfolk, Virginia, where she arrived on 17 June.

Breaking off from the convoy for Loch Ewe, West Cheswald also visited Methil, Southend, and Oban, before returning to New York on 11 August.

Sailing from there on 6 September, she began her final trip to Africa, in which she visited the West African ports of Bathurst, Freetown, Monrovia, and Takoradi before returning to Philadelphia via Trinidad on 27 January 1944.

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

[16] 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.

[27] Naval Armed Guardsmen manned the guns on all the gooseberry ships to protect against frequent German air attacks; West Cheswald's gunners were credited with downing one plane on 10 June.