Early in his career he was Captain Takeshita Isamu's escort during a ceremonial visit to the mayor of San Francisco, and he was a member of a Naval Board of Inquiry.

Reed assumed the command of a landing force of 120 men in Nicaragua in 1912, to protect a railway line following a coup d'état attempt by General Luis Mena.

Reed received the Navy Cross for his command of the USS Susquehanna during dangerous transatlantic voyages of World War I. Reed was the plank owner commanding officer of the newly commissioned heavy cruiser USS New Orleans, and in the summer of 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt took a cruise on the ship through the Panama Canal and the Pacific Ocean.

[7] On March 21, 1904, Reed reported for duty aboard the school ship USS Mohican[8] and was then on several vessels of the Asiatic and Pacific Fleets for more than four years.

[16] Reed was a lieutenant and senior engineer on the USS Albany by October 13, 1909, when he was Imperial Japanese Navy Captain Takeshita Isamu's escort during a ceremonial visit to the mayor of San Francisco.

This followed a coup d'état attempt by General Luis Mena, Minister of War to overthrow President Adolfo Díaz[25] and the Denver was one of six ships brought in to provide troops to protect the railway line from Corinto to Managua.

[26][d] By May 26, 1913, Reed was next on the Torpedo Flotilla tender USS Iris, as executive officer and navigator,[28][29] and he came to command it into June 1915.

[35][e] About December 26, 1917, President Wilson approved an Act of Congress that temporarily promoted a total of 188 officers to rear admirals, captains, and commanders.

[37] He was awarded the Navy Cross in 1920 "for distinguished service in the line of his profession as commanding officer of the USS Susquehanna, engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of transporting and escorting troops and supplies to European ports through waters infested with enemy submarines and mines.

[44] By July 1925, Reed was at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island,[45][46] in the Senior Class of 1926.

[46] He was assigned to the Ships' Movement Division of the office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, D.C., by July 1926[48] and was there through at least January 1, 1928.

[citation needed] USS New Orleans made a shakedown Transatlantic crossing to Northern Europe and Scandinavia in May and June 1934.

[60] President Franklin D. Roosevelt took a cruise beginning July 5 on the ship, which went through the Panama Canal, had an exercise off of the California coast with USS Macon, and ended at Astoria, Oregon, on August 2, 1934.

[77] On September 6, 1944, his wife, Bess M. Reed, sponsored the USS Torsk at its launch from the Portsmouth (Maine) Navy Yard.