The third vessel to be named Advance by the Navy—a motorboat constructed for the U.S. Coast Guard in 1917 at North Tonawanda, New York, by the Richardson Boat Co. She was taken over by the Navy and commissioned on 6 June 1917.

Advance was assigned to the 9th Naval District section patrol; and, although few documents recording her service have survived, she probably spent the entire period of America's involvement in World War I cruising the Great Lakes.

The Coast Guard assumed custody of Advance on 28 August 1919; and, presumably, she continued duty on the Great Lakes.

Coast Guard records reveal that by 1 January 1923, her permanent duty station and base of operations was Sault Ste.

AB-1 spent the next 38 months based in Chicago and finally headed back to Sault Ste.