Following commissioning, Roe conducted exercises in the Norfolk, Virginia, area until December with one interruption, a voyage to Newport, Rhode Island, and back in early November.

With the new month, April, she was assigned to Squadron 2, Division 5, Patrol Force and ordered to assist Treasury and Labor Department officials at Wilmington, North Carolina, in preventing the destruction or escape of German merchant vessels.

On the 6th, as the United States entered World War I, she sent an armed guard aboard Hohenfelde (see Long Beach).

During her service in World War I, she was commanded by Captain William A. Hodgman, who received the Navy Cross for his efforts.

On her return to the Navy, she was again berthed at League Island where she remained until sold for scrap on 2 May 1934 in accordance with the London Naval Treaty.