During World War II, she was reacquired by the U.S. Navy and served as USS Christiana, a seaplane tender which supported advanced bases in The Bahamas.

[4] She was built by the Johnson Foundry and Machine Company at its shipyard at the foot of 118th street on the Harlem River on Manhattan, New York City.

She was christened by Miss Dorothy Alexander, the 4-year old granddaughter of Commander George W. Coffin, Naval Secretary of the Lighthouse Board.

She was moored at the lighthouse depot on Staten Island where she took on supplies and provisions before sailing to her home port of Woods Hole, Massachusetts on 23 June 1891.

She had a long foredeck which was equipped with a derrick that used a separate steam engine to lift buoys and other loads on and off the ship.

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

[19] Transferring supplies and men in small boats on the open ocean from lighthouse tenders to lightships was risky.

Beginning in 1907, the Lighthouse Service began rotating lightships ashore for provisioning, reducing Azalea's supply responsibilities.

[23] Azalea was part of the naval review on the Hudson River during the dedication of Grant's Tomb in New York City on 27 April 1897.

[24] Taking advantage of her trip to New York, she picked up a load of buoys and chain from the general lighthouse depot on Staten Island before returning to Woods Hole.

[26] The ship was hauled out on the marine railway at the Lockwood Manufacturing Company in East Boston for repairs on 26 October 1899.

[30] For much of her time on the Massachusetts coast, Azalea was one of the few government vessels which had the ability to brave boisterous weather to rescue ships in distress.

Her rescues included: The schooner William Slater was attempting to make port in Hyannis, Massachusetts during a gale in September 1898.

[35] The captain sent a wireless distress message which was received by the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island.

[39] Azalea rescued the three-man crew of the schooner Mary Farrow in June 1910 after they abandoned the sinking ship.

[46] The most dramatic event of her wartime service came when the passenger steamer Northland, en route from New York to Boston ran aground in a fog near New Bedford on 21 June 1919.

[47] The war ended on 11 November 1918, and the Navy returned Azalea to the Lighthouse Service, under the jurisdiction of the Commerce Department, on 1 July 1919.

She resumed her familiar duties off the Massachusetts coast tending buoys,[49] looking after the lightships,[50] and assisting vessels in distress.

[51] Azalea collided with the schooner Lavinia M. Snow off Pollock Rip Shoal near Monomoy Island, on 8 July 1921 in a heavy fog.

[53] On 26 March 1929, Azalea and the U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat 133, towed the 5,663 ton freighter Eastern Glade off Half-Moon Shoal in Nantucket Sound.

The only public reporting that survives is when Christiana rescued two boys from a leaky rowboat on the Delaware River on 10 November 1936.

Within the week, Christiana was assigned to take her place on the company's freight route between Jacksonville, Florida and The Bahamas.

[68] Christiana was considered a "mobile base"[69] for seaplanes and patrol boats by the Gulf Sea Frontier and was employed by both the 7th and 8th Naval Districts.

[73] Christiana departed Key West on 27 February 1943 for temporary duty as a base for anti-submarine operations at Timbalier Island, Louisiana.

[76]During World War II, the U.S. Navy maintained regular airborne patrols over the Atlantic coast of Florida focused on detecting U-boats, assisting vessels in distress, and search and rescue operations.

The Navy created a series of advanced bases in The Bahamas to extend the range of its maritime patrols further from the United States mainland.

Scouting Squadron 39, which was based at Naval Air Station Banana River, flew OS2U Kingfisher seaplanes.

[82] Patrol Squadron 213, flew PBM-3 aircraft from Key West and used Christiana as a tender at Nassau in January 1944, and at Royal Island in April and May 1944.

[92] After the surrender of Germany eliminated the U-boat threat, the advance base at Royal Island was closed on 25 May 1945 and YAG-32 sailed for Miami to be decommissioned.

She sailed in ballast from Miami, with no cargo, to ports in the Dominican Republic,[97] Colombia,[98] and Cuba,[99] and returned with bananas.