Laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey, on 11 November 1913, she was launched on 2 March 1913, sponsored by Miss Helen W. Neel, granddaughter of Rear Admiral George W. Melville; and was first commissioned on 3 December 1915, Comdr.

On 11 May 1917, a month after the United States entered World War I, the destroyer tender got underway for Queenstown, Ireland, arriving on the 22nd.

Reassigned to the Pacific Fleet, the destroyer tender stood out from Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 19 July for the west coast.

On 31 October she arrived at her new home port, San Diego, California, for service along the west coast, alternating with training and fleet exercises in the Caribbean and off Hawaii for the next 21 years.

With the threat of American involvement in World War II, Melville steamed from the Caribbean for the east coast in November 1940.