The Navy assigned her the naval registry identification number 3164 and commissioned her at Portland on 30 July 1918 as USS Western Spirit (ID-3164).

[2][3] Assigned to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service, Western Spirit departed Portland on 26 July 1918 and steamed to Arica, Chile, where she loaded a cargo of nitrates.

After unloading the nitrates, she departed New Orleans on 23 September 1918 and proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia, where she took on a load of some 4,000 tons of general United States Army supplies.

[4][5] At New York, Western Spirit joined a convoy and departed on 16 October 1918 bound for France, but suffered engine trouble and had to divert to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, for repairs.

[7] Western Spirit departed Norfolk on 19 January 1919 for a second transatlantic voyage, carrying railroad supplies and a cargo of goods consigned to the U.S.Army Quartermaster Corps.