She was powered by a pair of triple expansion steam engines, with cylinders of 15, 24 and 39 inches by 21-inch stroke, built by the W. & A. Fletcher Co. of Hoboken, New Jersey.

Following commissioning, Scorpion proceeded to Hampton Roads, Virginia, where she joined the Flying Squadron on 1 May 1898 and prepared for duty in the Caribbean.

On 25 May, she returned to Cienfuegos, patrolled there on blockade duty until the next day, then departed for Key West, Florida, for coal and water.

On 30 June, she shifted to Cape Cruz, and on 1 July she joined the armed tug Osceola in an unsuccessful attack on Spanish gunboats in Manzanillo harbor.

[3] For the next six years, she carried dispatches and personnel, conducted hydrographic surveys, and participated in exercises along the United States East Coast and in the Caribbean, operating primarily off Santo Domingo during 1906 and 1907.

On 4 December 1908, she arrived at Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire to take up duties as station ship, but she was ordered to Messina, Italy to assist in relief efforts for the survivors of an earthquake there.

In addition to detachments from British, French, German, Italian, and Russian warships, Scorpion landed a small detail to guard the U.S. Legation.

World War I began in August 1914, and in November 1914 the Ottoman Empire entered it on the side of the Central Powers.

Naval Officer in Turkish Waters, Scorpion assumed duties as flagship and dispatch vessel, continuing, at the same time, her station ship and relief work.

Redesignated PY-3 in 1920 when the U.S. Navy instituted its alphanumeric hull classification system, she shifted to Phaleron Bay, Greece, in November 1923 and took up duties as station ship in the eastern Mediterranean.

On 16 June 1927, she departed the Mediterranean under Commander Byington and steamed west to return to the U.S. On 11 July 1927, she arrived at Philadelphia.