Over the ensuing three years, he briefly served aboard the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey ship Endeavor, followed by a tour in the gunboat Alliance to the Far East.

Subsequently, after duty on several trial boards for general courts martial at the Norfolk and Washington Navy Yards, he was assigned to a succession of ships—Montgomery (C-9), Terror (BM-4) and Patterson (DD-36)—before joining the battleship Indiana (BB-1) in early 1898.

Special duty at the Bureau of Navigation followed his return from the Orient and preceded his assuming command of dispatch boat Dolphin (PG-24), the vessel which was then serving as the Secretary of the Navy's yacht.

On 22 November 1918, eleven days after the Armistice, he assumed command of Flagship Division 3, Battleship Force 1, Atlantic Fleet, flying his "flag" alternately in yachts Aramis (SP-418) and Nokomis (SP-609).

Operating from the Kurils to Calcutta, the destroyer squadrons of the Fleet sailed on plane-guard stations, transported supplies and spare parts, and provided radio bearings and communications services for the planes, and thus contributed greatly to the success of the flight.

Relieved as CINCAF on 14 October 1925, Washington became Commandant of the Naval Operating Base, San Francisco, California, on 19 November 1925, and filled the billet until his retirement on 6 June 1929.