After completing boot camp, Reid reported on board the aircraft carrier USS Lexington on 28 November 1935, and remained in that ship for over two years.

After service with Torpedo Squadron 3, on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, Reid was transferred to Naval Air Station Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 12 August 1941.

He and the other seven pilots of the combat air patrol then strafed the enemy vessels, sinking one and forcing the other, Nagato Maru, to surrender.

During the Battle of Midway, he flew three combat air patrol missions on 4 June 1942, including one during which his section was vectored over to defend the crippled aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.

He also took part in strafing the Japanese destroyers Asashio and Arashio as they assisted the crippled heavy cruisers Mogami and Mikuma on 6 June 1942.

Proceeding thence to New York City, Beverly W. Reid took part in President Harry S Truman's Presidential Review on Navy Day, 27 October 1945.

She departed New York City on 30 October 1945 and, after anchoring overnight at the Harbor of Refuge, reached Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the next day.

Reid was moved from Green Cove Springs to the Naval Reserve Fleet in Orange, Texas and remained there until movement to Little Creek Amphibious Base by the crew of the USS Liddle.

After nearly 20 years of inactivity, Beverly W. Reid was inspected and prepared for towing to Little Creek, Virginia by a Naval tug by high-speed transport USS Liddle crew.

She spent most of September 1967 pierside in upkeep at Little Creek, making only a single five-day excursion to Onslow Bay in North Carolina late in the month.

Beverly W. Reid arrived at Little Creek on 23 March 1968 and remained there for almost a month, before embarking a six-day trip to Onslow Bay to do sounding surveys on 21 April 1968.

She returned to Little Creek on 27 March 1968 and stayed close to home during May 1968, mixing upkeep with hydrographic surveys of the waters off Camp Pendleton in Virginia Beach and work with fleet ocean tug USS Shakori to help battleship USS New Jersey in gunnery calibration exercises off the Virginia Capes.

After a final series of amphibious drills at Onslow Beach late in September 1968, Beverly W. Reid was placed in reduced operational status on 1 October 1968 as part of an economy measure.

Her name stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 September 1974, and was sold for $79,002 (USD) to J. R. Steel, Inc., of Houston, Texas, on 18 August 1975 for scrapping.