J. Fred Talbott was laid down by the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company at Philadelphia on 8 July 1918, launched on 14 December 1918 by Mrs. Robert L. Bates, niece of Representative Talbott and commissioned on 30 June 1919.

Upon her return to the United States on 21 June 1920, the ship took part in Neutrality Patrol duty on the East Coast and engaged in fleet exercises before her decommissioning at Philadelphia on 18 January 1923.

J. Fred Talbott recommissioned 1 May 1930 and immediately began shakedown training in Delaware Bay.

With the outbreak of the war in Europe, and the United States' initial effort to protect its shipping while remaining neutral, J. Fred Talbott was assigned patrol duties in the waters off the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal.

Following the US entry into the war with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the ship took up convoy escort duties between New Orleans, Cuba, and the Panama Canal.