Attached to the Auxiliary Naval Force for patrol duty during the brief war with Spain, Choctaw operated in the Gulf of Mexico through the cessation of hostilities.

Recommissioned the following year on 15 June, Choctaw sailed for Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with USS Monongahela in tow, before reporting to the naval training station at Newport, Rhode Island for duty as a yard tug and ferry.

Placed back in active service in 1904, Choctaw served at the Washington Navy Yard through World War I.

Transferred to the Norfolk Navy Yard on 21 April 1921, she served in the 5th Naval District through the outbreak of World War II.

On 15 February 1940, Wicomico collided with the destroyer USS Goff in Hampton Roads and sank shortly thereafter.