During World War I, she was transferred to the United States Navy and was commissioned as USS Arbutus, but her duties largely remained those of a lighthouse tender.

The ship slid down the ways and promptly collided with the schooner Ridie, fully loaded with cargo, sailing out of Baltimore Harbor.

The impact punched a large hole in Ridie's hull, and despite the efforts of her crew and a number of nearby vessels, she sank in the channel.

[3] Ridie was raised on 3 July 1879, and her owners submitted a bill to Malster and Reaney for damage to cargo, salvage costs, and repair of the ship.

Arbutus was initially assigned to the inspector of the 4th Lighthouse District and based in Wilmington, Delaware.

[21] Buoys are moved by storms and ice, break loose from their anchors, are hit by passing ships, rust, and worn by the weather.

Her buoy tending chores were complicated by winter sea in Delaware Bay and the rivers which flowed into it.

[22] Many lighthouses and all lightships were supplied by sea, since their remote locations offered no land transportation.

Arbutus performed this task through her entire career, delivering mail, food, water, and other supplies.

Her responsibilities included the entire coast of the United States from the Mexican border to Cape Canaveral, Florida.

[26] Arbutus carried men and materials, towed barges, pile-drivers,[27] and caissons,[28] and otherwise assisted in the construction of a number of lighthouses in the districts.

[43] In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Arbutus assisted in laying mines at the entrance to Mobile Bay, a defense against the Spanish fleet.

[15] Arbutus was the second government vessel carrying relief supplies to reach Galveston after the hurricane of 1900.

[48] On 11 April 1917 President Wilson issued Executive Order 2588[49] transferring a number of lighthouse tenders to support the American effort in World War I. Arbutus was transferred to the U.S. Department of War, and she was commissioned into the United States Navy as USS Arbutus on 4 June 1917.

[50][51] She replaced USLHT Ivy in the district but traded crews with her so as to retain local knowledge of Chesapeake Bay waters.

[52] After the war, on 1 July 1919,[53] the components of the Lighthouse Service which had become part of the Navy were returned to the supervision of the Department of Commerce.

In 1919 Arbutus briefly played host to engineers developing radio direction finding equipment from the National Bureau of Standards.

[60] Her first assignment for her new owners was to pump out, refloat, and tow to port the burned and sunken steamer Lenape from near Lewes, Delaware.

[61] Perhaps her most newsworthy effort as a salvage steamer was assisting in refloating and scrapping of ex-USS Alabama, which was sunk as a target ship in Chesapeake Bay in 1921.

[63] Likely this means that she was scrapped by her owners, as both her wooden hull and steam engines were outmoded and worn down by nearly six decades of service.