West Lianga was sold to the Los Angeles Steamship Company (LASSCO) in early 1929, refurbished, and renamed Helen Whittier for intercoastal cargo service.

She was renamed Kalani in 1938 and continued in Hawaiian service until 1940 when she was sold to British interests to help fill the United Kingdom's urgent need for merchant ships.

Shortly after midnight on 4 November 1942, Hobbema was struck in the engine room by a single torpedo fired by German submarine U-132.

[11][12] Shipbuilder Skinner & Eddy received a $71,600 bonus ($1.5 million today) for completing West Lianga early.

Whatever her early activities, West Lianga was handed over to the United States Navy at Brooklyn in August 1918 and assigned the identification number 2758.

[7] At New York, West Lianga took on a load of 6,882 tons of materiel for the United States Army and a deck-load of 32 trucks and departed for France in a convoy.

After making her delivery at Brest, the cargo ship took on a load of steel rails and sand as ballast and sailed for Newport News, Virginia, where she arrived on 21 March.

She loaded railroad supplies for the Quartermaster Corps and sailed on 4 April on what would be her final NOTS trip to France.

[18] Helen Whittier's activities over the next two years were not recorded in contemporary newspaper accounts, but she was affected by the absorption of LASSCO into its former competitor, Matson Navigation Company, on 1 January 1931.

[20] In late August 1931, Helen Whittier was added to Matson's Hawaiian sugar service to Gulf Coast and North Atlantic ports.

[22] In June that same year, Helen Whittier was one of the Matson ships added to carry food cargo to Hawaii.

Shipments of food from the mainland—which accounted for up to 90% of Hawaii's needs—had been curtailed as a coastwise strike had affected all ports except Los Angeles.

[31] Occasionally, Helen Whittier would make side trips to Baltimore for voyage repairs between her arrival at New York and her next departure for Hawaii.

[35] On 15 July 1940, Matson received the permission of the United States Maritime Commission (USMC), a successor to the USSB, to sell Kalani to Sir R. Ropner & Co., Ltd., of West Hartlepool.

[37] Kalani, acquired to fill the United Kingdom's urgent need for merchant vessels, was operated by Ropner under the authority of the Ministry of War Transport.

[5] She departed from Halifax for Liverpool as a part of convoy HX 78 on 4 October but had to turn back and put in at Sydney, Nova Scotia.

[41] Although nine convoy ships were sunk by six German and two Italian submarines on 23–24 February,[41] Empire Cheetah safely reached her destination of Philadelphia on 10 March.

After taking on a load of steel,[42] Empire Cheetah sailed for Halifax, and then on to Newport, Monmouthshire, as a part of convoy HX 122, arriving on 9 May.

[6] After a month at Clyde, Empire Cheetah set out a third time for North America in convoy ON 7 which, although dispersed mid-ocean, lost no ships to submarines.

There she joined convoy SC 51 sailing for Holyhead and Manchester the same day with a cargo of grain, steel, and cotton.

After returning to Holyhead later in the month, Empire Cheetah sailed in convoy BB 106 to Barry, where she arrived on 1 December.

After making two trips to Philadelphia and back, she departed for Cape Cod Bay to form up with convoy BX 28 for Halifax, where she arrived on 11 July.

[49] Hobbema sailed the next day for Newport News and took on 7,000 long tons (7,100 t) of general cargo and ammunition and returned to New York on 15 October.

At 00:15, a single torpedo from U-132 hit Hobbema on the starboard side in the engine room, immediately knocking out power to the ship, and caused her to begin rapidly sinking.

[47] At 00:40 the entire convoy and nearby U-boats were jolted by a very heavy explosion thought to have been one of the largest prior to atomic bomb testing.