 "DeKalb" was decommissioned 22 September 1919 and returned to the United States Shipping Board for disposal the following day.She returned to civilian control, initially as "DeKalb" and, after 1920, as "Mount Clay".The ship was acquired by W. Averell Harriman and included with ten previous ships acquired from the Kerr Navigation Company in a name change so that all were prefixed with an American mountain and thus renamed "Mount Clay".