Originally a schooner-rigged steamship, she was launched in 1888 as City of New York by John Brown and Company, Clydebank, Scotland, for the Inman Line.

Assigned as a scout, Harvard departed New York on 30 April to cruise West Indian waters in search of the Spanish fleet.

After sending back several reports on the location of Spanish units in the Caribbean, Harvard was blockaded by a larger force at Saint-Pierre, Martinique from 11 to 17 May, after which she proceeded to Santiago de Cuba and St. Nicholas Mole, Haiti, with dispatches from Commodore Winfield Scott Schley.

Interrupting her scouting duties, Harvard returned to Newport News, Virginia, 7–26 June during which time her crew was officially taken into the Naval Service.

She was temporarily turned over to the War Department, and returned to Santiago de Cuba to transport troops back to the United States.

When United States joined World War I, again needed in support of American forces abroad, New York was chartered by the Navy 9 May 1918 for use as a troop transport.