They were under the command of a Conservation Commission member, George O. Haddaway, who was also a Lieutenant in the Navy and expenses, wages, supplies and repairs were paid by the federal government.

[4][note 3] St. Mary's was placed in service 17 October 1917 under A. P. Cullinson, the Conservation Commission's usual officer with the Navy rating of Chief Master at Arms, and given the Section Patrol number (SP-1457) while serving both the Conservation Commission and Navy during World War I.

[2] St. Mary's was assigned to the Baltimore Section of the 5th Naval District and an area on the Chesapeake Bay and on the Potomac River between Point Lookout, Maryland, and the mouth of the St. Mary's River, the boat's usual Fishery Force area, for the rest of World War I and for two weeks after it ended, concluding her final patrol on 25 November 1918 with the state Conservation Commission taking full responsibility on 26 November 1918.

[2] The State Fishery Force power boat St. Mary's was still in operation when the 1922 Annual Report for the Conservation Commission was published in January 1923.

[5] Bessie Jones, Buck, Daisy Archer, Dorothy, Frolic, Governor R. M. McLane, Julia Hamilton, Helen Baughman, Murray, Music, Nellie Jackson, Nettie, Severn, St. Mary's, and Swan