She was launched on 19 April 1928, quickly completed fitting-out, was commissioned into the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (BOF) fleet as USFS Crane, and was ready for service by May 1928.

[2] Crane was designed along the same lines as a fish-packing vessel and, at 92 feet (28.0 m) long and 134 gross register tons, was considered "massive" for her patrol role.

[2] Crane departed Seattle, Washington, in May 1928 to head north for her first season as a BOF patrol vessel in Alaskan waters.

[2] She also routinely operated as a transport vessel, for example regularly carrying seasonal employees and supplies between Seattle and the BOF station in the Naknek River region on Alaska's Bristol Bay coast.

[2][3] She also added seasonal patrols of the waters of Washington and the Alaska Territory to her duties to protect sea otter populations and migrating herds of fur seals.

[2] During the winter of 1933–1934, Crane and the BOF fishery patrol vessel USFS Scoter underwent a particularly significant restoration at Seattle thanks to a special allotment of funds by the Public Works Administration.

[2] After the completion of the renovations, Crane and Scoter deployed to Southeast Alaska to take part in a project funded by the Civil Works Administration in which they helped clear and improve salmon-spawning streams, and by 22 February 1934 the 200 temporary employees involved had cleared log jams and other obstructions from a combined total of 802 miles (1,291 km) of waterways in 325 streams.

[2] While transiting the Inside Passage on 21 May 1939, Crane struck a rock in Grenville Channel on the coast of British Columbia, Canada.

[2] One evening during Freeman's ownership, Crane's crew returned to her to find her sinking at her berth, down by the bow and with no waterline showing.

[2] He rigged her to troll for tuna; later, he employed her for six years as a fish-packing vessel for a cannery at Friday Harbor, Washington.

[2] She underwent a major restoration, and when it was complete Beaudin placed her in service with the company Crane Adventures, using her as a gillnet tender in Southeast Alaska during summers and making her available for charter for tours and other outings.