[6][7] Following shakedown, Semmes participated in exercises along the northeast coast until January 1921 when she sailed south for winter fleet maneuvers in the Caribbean.

From there, she transited the Panama Canal to cruise off the west coast of South America and returned to the Caribbean in late February to conduct further exercises out of Guantanamo Bay.

[9] After the entry of the United States into World War II, Semmes added escort missions, training services for the Key West Sound School, and antisubmarine patrol work to her duties.

Permanent repairs were completed at Norfolk on 3 June and the former destroyer resumed her test and evaluation, patrol, and escort work which she continued through the end of the war in Europe.

Decommissioned on 2 June, her name was struck from the Navy list on 3 July; and her hulk was sold for scrapping to the Northern Metals Corporation, Philadelphia on 25 November.