Mohawk was built as the civilian tug T. P. Fowler in 1893 by T. S. Marval and Company, Newburgh, New York.

She was acquired by the U.S. Navy from Cornell Steamboat Company on 23 April 1898 for service in the Spanish–American War and assigned to the 5th Naval District.

Mohawk operated in and around Norfolk Navy Yard, Norfolk, Virginia, for nearly half a century, making several voyages a year to naval installations throughout the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay area, serving the fleet by towing barges and aiding naval vessels.

YTL-17 was turned over to the War Shipping Administration for disposal on 1 October 1946 and sold to W. S. Sanders, Norfolk, Va., in 1948.

She was declared derelict in 1969 and sunk as an artificial reef off Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, in 1970.