Dispatch traffic, however, indicates difficulties in finding certain items of equipment to be installed on board, the Commander, Naval Station, New York, informing the Navy Department that Barnegat and Montauk (Id.No.1213) still needed binnacles and standard compasses as of 11 December, but prognosticated that both ships would be ready to sail on the 12th.

Barnegat ultimately departed New York City for the Philadelphia Navy Yard, there to complete preparations "for distant service" and thence to await onward routing.

While Venetia stood by, her starboard whaleboat ready to assist the tug if necessary, Barnegat’s sailors got the towline on board the French craft at 1600.

No sooner had the convoy flagship made contact with her one prodigal, but Gypsum Queen, that had fallen astern during the search for Barnegat, dropped below the horizon.

The little convoy reached Bermuda shortly before the start of the mid watch on 27 December, with Barnegat bringing up the rear; a strong northeasterly wind and nearly continuous rain made the reception chilly and damp, but eventually all of the ships and their tows were safely anchored in Great Sound.

On New Year's Day, 1918, Ensign John Alexander, USNRF, was detached from Venetia with orders to command Barnegat.

Venetia later transferred foodstuffs to Barnegat via Prometheus’s motor sailer on 5 January, the day that the tug quit the dockyard to anchor in Great Sound.

More conferences between commanding officers ensued, probably dealing with the next leg of the voyage, that commenced as the flotilla took departure on 7 January 1918 for the Azores.

By the time that Barnegat reached Ponta Delgada, Azores, in late January, plans were being broached for her future employment.

Highlights of her Azores duty were a run to Horta, Fayal, to tow French submarine chaser SC 28 to Punta Delgada and a cruise in nearby waters to search for the troopship Hancock.

Barnegat, with Gypsum Queen and two French subchasers, cleared the Azores early in the spring and proceeded to France.

Continuing to operate out of Brest after the fighting ended, she added work as a dispatch vessel and as a passenger ferry to her duties as a tug.

Toward the end of her service in Europe, she embarked a party of motion picture photographers on 7 August to film the gigantic transport Leviathan.

Experiencing engine difficulties in the predawn darkness of 3 November, the tug radioed her plight to Bella and bridled her bow for towing.

Nahant passed a hawser to the tug and Barnegat remained under tow until late the next afternoon when she was again able to proceed under her own power.

The tug was moved to Philadelphia in February 1920 and lay in the navy yard there until 17 August 1920 when she was ordered transferred to the War Department.