[1] Her homeport was Savannah, Georgia where she enforced customs laws, conducted search and rescue operations and destroyed derelict vessels.

[2] During a search and rescue attempt on 4 March 1917 assisting the steamer Louisiana run aground near Ocean City, Maryland, the Yamacraw lost 10 of her crew.

[2] After the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917, Yamacraw was assigned to the U.S. Navy but retained her Coast Guard crew.

She served as a patrol vessel in the Chesapeake Bay to Nantucket Shoals area until called for convoy duty to Europe.

During convoy missions escorting merchant vessels she performed a rescue, saving four survivors of a torpedo attack.