Penguin, commissioned too late for service during World War I, performed minesweeping and salvage work in the New York City area until sailing for Kirkwall, Scotland, on 22 May 1919.

Fitted out with "electrical protective devices", she was soon busy in the post-war clearing of the North Sea Mine Barrage.

She remained on China station until the end of the decade, then sailed to Cavite, whence she steamed to Guam, where she was homeported for the remainder of her naval career.

During the 1930s she performed various services for the administrators of Guam, including patrol and rescue missions in areas traversed by the newly established transpacific air routes.

Penguin slipped her mooring and moved outside the harbor to gain maneuvering space and attacked the bombers with anti-aircraft fire, shooting down one aircraft, but she was then bombed and strafed.