During her career in the United States Lighthouse Service she was based in Portland, Oregon, Ketchikan, Alaska, Honolulu, Hawaii, San Juan Puerto Rico, and Baltimore, Maryland.

During her career with Union Shipbuilding, she towed nearly 200 ships, including battleships, ocean liners, and freighters to Baltimore for scrapping.

In its annual report in 1889, the Lighthouse Board noted that this single ship was not able to visit each buoy twice a year as required by its own regulations, and that routine supply operations had to be contracted to commercial shippers which were expensive and not always available.

Globe Iron Works corporate secretary, Luther Allen, met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Charles Foster, previously governor of Ohio, to argue that the Lighthouse Board had not called for a joint bid and thus it would be illegal to consider the Maryland company's joint bid.

[6] U.S. Navy Commander Charles V. Gridley was sent to Cleveland to oversee the construction of the two ships for the Lighthouse Board.

She was built with a double bottom and 12 water-tight compartments as safety measures against flooding due to accidental grounding.

[9] United States buoy tenders are traditionally named for trees, shrubs, and flowering plants.

[16] She sailed from Cleveland on 5 September 1892, bound for the general lighthouse depot at Thompkinsville, Staten Island, New York.

She underwent numerous repairs in San Francisco to fix both the issues with her original construction, and the wear and tear of her long voyage from Cleveland.

Before leaving the Bay Area, Columbine boarded a cargo of 200 tons of buoy mooring chain at the Mare Island Navy Yard to take with her to her new assignment.

[17] Columbine towed lightships, including Light Vessel 50,[23] into position and back to port for maintenance.

Her primary mission became the construction and maintenance of lighthouses, fog signals, and related civil works.

[28] In June 1898, Columbine hosted Rear Admiral John G. Walker, chairman of the Lighthouse Board, on an inspection trip of Southeast Alaska.

This was considered remarkable, but also implied that there were no maintained aids to navigation on the entire Alaskan coast north of the panhandle.

Tens of thousands of would-be prospectors sailed up the Inside Passage to begin their trek to the gold fields.

[32] Later that year, gold was discovered in Nome, creating an increase in Alaskan ship traffic in an area where there were no aids to navigation at all.

Since USLHT Armeria was wrecked in May 1912 off Hinchinbrook Island,[39] Columbine was the only tender permanently assigned to Alaska during much of her time there.

At San Francisco she swapped crews and missions with USLHT Kukui, which was judged to be more capable of withstanding the rigors of Alaska.

[47] On 17 January 1916, the barquentine British Yeoman anchored off Port Allen, Kauai as a Kona storm began to lash the area.

Columbine, on the other side of the island at Kilauea, received a radiogram warning of trouble at Port Allen and went to help.

Using one of her ship's boats, Columbine managed to pass a hawser to British Yeoman and began to tow her away from the shore.

President Woodrow Wilson wrote to Commerce Secretary William C. Redfield, "Thank you for letting me see the report of the heroic services of the officers and crew of the Columbine.

"[49] The Secretary complied, and wrote a letter of commendation to the crew that stated, in part: I take special pleasure in commending you for your gratifying exhibition of seamanship in connection with this rescue, and also desire to express my high appreciation for the services of all on board during the rescue, in which the best traditions of the Lighthouse Service have been upheld so well.

After the war, on 1 July 1919,[58] the components of the Lighthouse Service which had become part of the Navy were returned to the supervision of the Department of Commerce.

[59] In June 1924, the Lighthouse Service announced that Columbine would be reactivated and sent to the 9th District to replace her sistership USLHT Lilac.

[59] Lilac's crew took possession of Columbine[60] and departed Portsmouth, Virginia on 31 October 1924 to sail her to San Juan, where she arrived in November 1924.

[61] During the evening of 6 November 1925 the U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat 245 was attempting to enter San Juan Harbor in heavy seas when one of her crew fell overboard.

[62] On 26 December 1926, the Cunard liner RMS Franconia went hard aground at the entrance to San Juan Harbor.

In December 1929, the passenger liners RMS Fort Victoria and Algonquin collided near the Ambrose lightship outside of New York Harbor.

She answered the SOS calls from the two ships and rescued the last 18 people aboard Fort Victoria as she sank, including her captain and pilot.