Shaw was laid down on 7 February 1916 by the Mare Island Navy Yard, launched on 9 December 1916, sponsored by Mrs. Virginia Kemper Lynch Millard, and commissioned on 9 April 1917.

On 9 October 1918, while escorting Aquitania, Shaw's rudder jammed just as she was completing the right leg of a zigzag, leaving her headed directly towards the transport.

A moment later, Aquitania struck Shaw, cutting off 90 feet (27 m) of the destroyer's bow, mangling her bridge and setting her on fire.

Shaw was struck from the Navy list on 25 March 1926 and transferred to the Coast Guard the same day, to serve in the Rum Patrol.

Her name was canceled on 1 November 1933 for assignment to a new destroyer, and the ship was struck again on 5 July 1934 and sold on 22 August 1934 for scrapping to Michael Plynn, Inc., Brooklyn, New York.