[2] On July 25, 1952, the C-3 cargo ship went into the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Mobile, Ala.[2] In 1957, Schuyler Otis Bland was acquired by the US Navy for operation by American Mail Lines.

[2] In October 1959, after more than two years with American Mail, she entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Olympia, Wash.[2] On August 4, 1961, USNS Schuyler Otis Bland was delivered to the Navy, and on August 28, assigned to the Military Sea Transport Service (MSTS) and placed in service as USNS Schuyler Otis Bland (T-AK-277).

[1][2] USNS Schuyler Otis Bland departed San Francisco on September 28, 1961, to carry cargo to Bangkok, Saigon, Manila, Kaohsiung, and other Pacific ports, beginning over a decade of service supplying military logistic requirements throughout the world.

She also delivered cargo in the mid 1970s for several consecutive Januaries to the USN and National Science Foundation operations at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

[3] The logbook of USNS Schuyler Otis Bland records that the ship was carrying classified cargo that was offloaded under armed guard at White Beach, a U.S. Navy port on Okinawa's east coast on April 25, 1962.