Commissioned as a destroyer in 1919, she undertook a number of patrol and training duties along the East Coast of the United States until being decommissioned in 1922.
She was present during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and following this she supported several operations during the war, laying minefields and sweeping for mines in the Pacific.
After her commissioning, she reported to the United States Atlantic Fleet and cruised for several days as an escort for convoys supporting World War I, before the end of the conflict on 11 November.
Returning to Norfolk, Virginia at the end of the war, she was assigned to Destroyer Division 12 and served off the coast of Cuba on training exercises during the spring of 1919.
In July 1919, Destroyer Division 12 was assigned to the United States Pacific Fleet, based at San Diego, California.
On 2 November 1939, she arrived at Puget Sound Navy Yard and began to conduct Neutrality Patrol off the Oregon and Washington coasts.
Attached to Mine Division 2 in the Pacific Fleet, she took part in training exercises in the operating area and on the Maui range during much of 1941.
At the outbreak of the attack, her crew was distracted by the initial assault on Ford Island and was buzzed by a flight of Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers.
[10] During the summer of 1942, she operated out of the South Pacific On 3 August 1942, she, along with minesweepers Gamble and Tracy, were laying mines in Segond Channel, Espiritu Santo.
[11] Destroyer Tucker entered the strait on escort patrol, having not been notified of the minefield, when she struck one of the mines and sank.
[13] She carried out minesweeping duties during the consolidation of the Solomon Islands from 1–13 May 1943, where she was assigned to Task Group 36.5 alongside Gamble, Preble, and Radford.
In her final act of the war, she steamed in support of the United States Third Fleet near mainland Japan between 5 and 31 July.
In August and September 1945 Breese swept mines in the East China Sea and Kyūshū-Korean area following the end of the war.