He was appointed a midshipman on 21 June 1869 and served in the practice ships Dale, Savannah, and Constellation before graduating from the United States Naval Academy on 31 May 1873.

Subsequently, Young was ordered to Huron, where he served until her tragic grounding off Nags Head, North Carolina, on 24 November 1877.

Ensign Young and an enlisted man, Seaman Antoine Williams, struggled ashore through the tumbling surf and gained the beach.

Young's next tour of duty was ashore, in the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting; and, while there, he served for a time as naval aide to the Secretary of the Navy.

Master Young then served successive tours of sea duty in the monitor Montauk and the training ship Minnesota.

During the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Young was based on the USS Boston 1892–93 as part of the invading force ordered by United States Government Minister John L. Stevens to land at Honolulu.

Young hurried back to the ship, took command, ordered her watertight compartments closed and her magazines flooded, and then secured the services of an Army tugboat nearby.

Young later was assigned to duty at the Mare Island Navy Yard and was there at the time of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, and did much relief work.

The tailor, one Frank Copper of Vallejo, California, wrote to the Secretary of the Navy complaining after several years of non-payment.

In his written response Young wrote that he had made inquiry in "Vallejo as to who this man [Copper] was, and was informed he was a weak and cranky Jew and that he ran a small hat store in town; that upon two occasions his shop was burned down under suspicious circumstances."