SS Shintaka, a screw steamer built in 1918 at Oakland, California, for the United States Shipping Board by Moore & Scott, was acquired by the U.S. Navy on 11 July 1918 for World War I service.

Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), Alloway departed from San Francisco soon after commissioning and set a course for the west coast of South America.

On 10 November 1918, the day before the armistice with Germany that ended World War I, Alloway departed New York City to begin her only voyage to Europe in U.S. Navy service.

[1] Alloway began her final voyage on 29 January 1929,[1] when she departed Seattle under the command of Captain H. S. Throckmorton carrying a crew of 35 and a cargo of 4,500 tons of lumber bound for Yokohama, Japan, where she was to be scrapped.

[1] One crewman, 20-year-old oiler James L. Posey, remained aboard Alloway after the rest of the crew abandoned ship and even after she ran aground, despite the danger to his life.

[1] Posey finally abandoned ship on 14 February 1929 and was rescued by a United States Coast Guard cutter shortly before Alloway broke up in the surf.