Sigourney was laid down on 25 August 1917 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts, launched on 16 December 1917, sponsored by Mrs. Granville W. Johnson, and commissioned on 15 May 1918.

After the Armistice with Germany on 11 November, she performed miscellaneous duties in European waters, including service in early December as flagship of the four-destroyer screen that escorted George Washington on the middle part of that transport's voyage to carry President Woodrow Wilson from the United States to France for the Versailles Peace Conference.

After overhaul at Boston and summer training at Newport, Sigourney was placed in reserve status at Philadelphia on 1 November 1919, and decommissioned there on 26 June 1922.

After engine repairs in England, as HNoMS Newport, she operated on convoy duty as a unit of the exiled Royal Norwegian Navy from March 1941 to June 1942.

She then reverted to the British, and after repairs, served as an aircraft target ship from June 1943 until placed in reserve in January 1945.