Operated by the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, and fitted out to carry horses, she made her maiden round-trip voyage between late November 1918 and late January 1919, carrying cargo, including horses, to France and from there back to the United States.

In March 1919 Federal sailed again with cargo for France and on her return voyage in April brought home over 500 U.S. Army medical personnel.

On her third voyage, in May and June 1919, she transported hay and oats to Antwerp, Belgium, for the Northern Food Administration and brought a cargo of steel billets back to New York City.

In December 1941, while on time charter to a Japanese ship operator, she was seized by Japan at the beginning of World War II in the Pacific, becoming Hakusan Maru.

[1] Later in the war, she took survivors from the shipwreck of Asaka Maru from Taiwan to Moji on Kyushu, arriving on 28 August 1944.