In August 1914, when the outbreak of World War I made the seas unsafe for Central Powers' shipping, Himalaia took refuge at New York City in the neutral United States and was laid up there.

The U.S. Navy acquired Kermanshah from Kerr Navigation for World War I service on 1 August 1918, assigned her the naval registry Identification Number (Id.

Kermanshah departed New York on 17 August 1918 in convoy for Bordeaux, France, with a cargo of general United States Army supplies.

Kermanshah was decommissioned on 5 March 1919 and transferred to the United States Shipping Board the same day for return to the Kerr Navigation Company.

During World War II, Kalliopi was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-402 in the North Atlantic Ocean on 7 February 1943.