"Bergensfjord" embarked on her last journey from Bergen to New York on 7 April 1940, only two days before the German invasion of Norway. On arrival in New York on 15 April 1940 she was laid up. She was requisitioned by the British Ministry of War Transport in November 1940 and converted to a troop ship over the following months. The conversion to troop ship took place in Liverpool, and the ship departed Liverpool, via Glasgow, with the first troops in February 1941, heading for Durban (via Freetown). By the end of the war "Bergensfjord" had transported some 165,000 Allied troops, sailed and spent 919 days at sea. She had also carried several thousand Axis prisoners of war, as well as taking part in the repatriation of released Allied prisoners of war. As a troop ship she took part in the Allied invasion of French North Africa in 1942 and the invasion of Sicily in 1943. During the latter operation she rescued survivors of the sunken hospital ship .