[2] On the morning of 7 March 1913 in Baltimore harbor, 300 tons of dynamite bound for use in constructing the Panama Canal was being loaded onto the British iron steamer Alum Chine from an adjacent car float when it detonated, completely annihilating both vessels.

Jason, about 1,100 feet away and newly ready for sea trials, was blasted by the debris and showered with iron, timber and boxes of dynamite, some of which exploded on impact.

Jason's hull and plating, three-quarters to seven-eighths of an inch thick, was riddled with holes from the water line to the top of the smoke stacks, which were mashed almost flat by the force of the explosion.

Following further fueling duties during winter maneuvers in the Caribbean and Mexican waters in early 1914, she embarked refugees from Tuxpan, Mexico, in April and transported them to Louisiana.

Later that year, Jason was once again involved in a humanitarian gesture as she sailed from New York 14 November, bearing Christmas gifts for the Mediterranean fleet and the people of Europe.

From 1925 to 1932 Jason operated in the Far East, engaging in transport duties and acting as a floating base supporting the Asiatic Fleet's air squadron.

As an aside, the 1922 Washington Treaty and the associated Four-Power Treaty forbade the establishment of permanent air facilities ashore in the Philippines, and Jason was assigned to replace Ajax as the depot ship in the Philippines for American naval aviation in the islands, basing the six SC-2 (and the later T3M-2) seaplane torpedo bombers of VT-5A (originally established as VT-20)[6] and the six O2U-1 seaplane scouts of VS-8A (Asiatic Fleet detachments).

[2] Towed by the tug SS Roosevelt, built for Robert Peary′s polar explorations, she left Seattle on 31 October 1936 bound for New York City.