After fitting out at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Gridley departed San Diego on 24 March 1919, transited the Panama Canal, and joined the Destroyer Force for maneuvers in Cuban waters.

Gridley and her companions sent up smoke and flare signals to guide the intrepid flyers and with the help of the surface ships the aircraft NC-4 was successfully able to land in the dense fog at the Azores on 17 May 1919.

Subsequently Gridley participated in the search for the aircraft NC-1, forced down in the fog, and then acted as guard ship on the last leg of NC-4's historic flight, which was completed at Plymouth, England on 31 May 1919.

Gridley arrived at Brest, France on 31 May and spent the next two months in various ports of the Mediterranean transporting passengers and making goodwill visits.

In the following years Gridley was active training officers and men of the Naval Reserve Force, operating out of Charleston, Newport, New York, and Philadelphia.