The ship was allocated to the War Department, completed on 24 April 1943 and turned over for operation by the US Army Transportation Service at Mobile, Alabama as USAT David C .

In September the ship returned to San Francisco, where minor modifications improving ventilation and armament were made with operations resumed to SWPA ports including Auckland, Oro Bay, Noumea, Biak, and others.

Navy shifted the transport's home port, then Seattle, to San Francisco where voyages were made throughout the Pacific, including Honolulu, Manila, Guam, Kwajalein, Alaska, Japan, and Taiwan.

The ship participated in operations to contain the Communist Chinese advance in Korea during the conflict there between December 1950 – January 1951, and earned a battle star for her service.

[2] David C. Shanks was inactivated and placed in the National Defense Reserve Fleet Suisun Bay on 27 October 1959 with permanent transfer to the Maritime Administration on 1 November 1960.