She was laid down by Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California, on 13 April 1896 and launched on 18 March 1897, sponsored by Mrs. C. L. More, daughter of Brigadier General T. C. H. Smith and commissioned in September 1897.

Following brief duty on the Pacific station, Marietta departed San Francisco on 19 March 1898 for Callao, Peru, to arrange for the coaling of the battleship Oregon which was steaming to join the North Atlantic Squadron off Cuba.

Operating in support of American forces ending the Philippine insurrection, the gunboat acted as a patrol and convoy escort vessel in the Islands, assisting and cooperating with the Army In military expeditions and landings until ordered home on 3 June 1901.

Again sailing via Suez, she arrived Boston on 17 September and then proceeded immediately to Portsmouth, New Hampshire reporting to the North Atlantic Squadron.

Marietta returned to the U.S. shortly before the start of World War I, and soon after joined the Atlantic Fleet patrol force for convoy duty.

While under the command of Captain Harry G. Hamlet, U.S. Coast Guard, in the Bay of Biscay on 28 April 1919, Marietta rescued 47 crewmen from the patrol vessel James which was sinking at sea.