[3] Munson operated the Southern Cross in the South American trade from 1921 until 1938 when the ship was sold at a Marshall's sale and taken over by the United States Maritime Commission which paid the full mortgage claim.

[4] Munson operated the ship on the New York to Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and Buenos Aires route with Santos, added during return voyages along with sister "535's" American Legion, Pan America and Western World.

[8] Wharton departed Brooklyn on 7 January 1941, bound for Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where she conducted shakedown before proceeding on through the Panama Canal to her home port, Mare Island, California.

[6] When the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941, Wharton was undergoing overhaul at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California.

A series of runs followed in which Wharton transported service families and dependents home to the west coast on her eastbound passages and troops and cargo to Hawaii on her westbound trips.

Equipped with seven manned LCVP's, Wharton sortied from Pearl Harbor in Task Group 51.1 on 23 January 1944, bound for Kwajalein and Eniwetok, with 526 Army Headquarters troops embarked.

Two of the ship's lifeboats were kept ready in their davits for instant deployment, and litters containing casualties were brought alongside in landing craft and transferred to these boats which were then hoisted up to the promenade deck level to be rushed to emergency dressing stations in the passenger officers' wardroom spaces.

"[6] Operating in company with USS Rixey (APH-3), Wharton returned to the transport area each morning for eight successive days to receive casualties and send an occasional beach party ashore.

These latter groups worked on the off-shore reef, unloading supplies and ammunition from LCM's – which could not cross the coral to waiting amphibious tractors which carried the cargo to the beachhead.

After two months of repairs, the ship resumed her transport duties and made a voyage to Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, and Nouméa before returning to the United States late in the year.

[6] Wharton took part in no further combat operations and returned home – via Seeadler Harbor, Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, Nouméa, and Suva – to San Francisco on 25 June.

Wharton conducted three voyages to the western Pacific – calling at Eniwetok, Guam, Saipan, Samar, Tacloban, and Puerto Princesa through the end of 1945 to pick up Army, Navy, and Marine Corps veterans and return them to the United States in "Operation Magic Carpet".

[6] The transport returned to the United States on 28 January, when she made port at San Francisco prior to heading north to Seattle, Washington, and arrived there on 9 February 1947.

[2] The ship, evaluated as in very poor condition with one engine having a broken reduction gear and reported leaks in the forepeak, entered U.S. Maritime Commission custody on 27 March 1947 at Olympia, Washington.