USLHT Maple was built as a lighthouse tender in 1893 at Elizabethport, New Jersey.

[2] The Lighthouse Board transferred her to the United States Navy immediately upon delivery.

[1] After the completion of her conversion, she deployed to the Caribbean, where she operated with the U.S. Navy forces blockading Cuba.

[1][2] The war ended in August 1898, but Maple remained off Cuba until 20 September 1898.

[2] Assigned to the 5th Naval District, Maple performed patrol duties off Norfolk, Virginia, through the end of the war on 11 November 1918 and in the war′s aftermath until 1 July 1919, when the Navy both decommissioned her and transferred her back to the U.S. Lighthouse Service.