[5] She was renamed G-4 on 17 November 1911, launched on 15 August 1912 sponsored by Ms. Grace Anna Taussig, and commissioned in the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 22 January 1914.

After fitting out, G-4 proceeded to the New York Navy Yard on 25 April for service with Division Three, Submarine Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet.

Based on plans purchased from Italian designer Cesare Laurenti, G-4 was an even keel boat, meaning the round pressure hull was flat on the bottom.

The different equipment and operating procedures meant G-4 spent the next five months conducting trial runs and diving tests, many of which failed owing to engine machinery breakdown.

Moving back to New York on 22 November, G-4 received post-shakedown repairs to her engines, which suffered from sea water damage owing to leaky exhaust lines and salt contamination of the oil system.

Following two months of repairs, G-4 departed Philadelphia on 12 May and sailed to New York for a Naval Review before President of the United States Woodrow Wilson.

Trouble with the Sperry gyrocompass rudder control mechanism — as well as continued modifications to engines and other machinery — kept the boat in the New York Navy Yard through the end of the year.

On 21 May, G-4 commenced test firing the new Mark VII torpedo for installation in O and N-class submarines, evolutions that lasted through mid-July.

She decommissioned on 5 September, was designated as a target for depth charge and ordnance tests on 6 December, and was sold for scrapping to Connecticut Iron and Metal Company of New London on 15 April 1920.