War Shell was requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board (USSB), renamed Lakeshore[note 1] and assigned the U.S. official number 215651 with signal letters LHWS.

[3][4][1] The ship was acquired from the USSB by the Navy for use as a mine carrier and commissioned as Lake Shore at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 11 January 1918, and assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS).

The ship was refitted at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, armed with one 5-inch gun and one six-pounder, manned with a complement of 64, and got underway for Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 7 February.

[5][6] Early in World War II, to relieve its acute shortage of cargo ships, the Navy reacquired Olympic on 23 May 1942.

[6] On 19 August 1943, Taganak was a few hours out of Nouméa en route to Espiritu Santo with a cargo of ammunition when she was attacked by a Japanese submarine.

American dive bombers of Scouting Squadron VS-57 came to the assistance of the New Zealand corvette and aided in the kill of the Japanese submarine I-17.

She put into Auckland, New Zealand, on 6 February 1945 for repairs and then plied the waters of the South Pacific Ocean carrying cargo until after hostilities with Japan ended.

[6] Taganak arrived at San Francisco on 26 October 1945, decommissioned at Vallejo, California, on 25 March 1946 and struck from the Navy List on 12 April.