Assigned to the Armored Cruiser Squadron, Pacific Fleet, South Dakota visited Seattle, Washington, (25–27 April).

Following operations along the Pacific coast during much of 1911, South Dakota began a cruise in December with the Armored Cruiser Squadron which took her from California to the Hawaiian Islands, the Marianas, the Philippines, and Japan.

After returning to the west coast in August 1912, she participated in periodic squadron exercises until she was placed in reserve on 30 December 1913 at the Puget Sound Navy Yard.

Detached from the Reserve Force, Pacific Fleet on 17 April 1914, South Dakota made a cruise southward into Mexican waters in May and another westward to the Hawaiian Islands in August.

Transferred to the Atlantic after the United States entered World War I, South Dakota departed Bremerton on 12 April.

She joined sister ships Pittsburgh, Pueblo, and Frederick at Colón, Panama, on 29 May; thence proceeded to the South Atlantic for patrol duty operating from Brazilian ports.

In the summer of 1919, South Dakota was ordered back to the Pacific to serve as flagship of the Asiatic Fleet, arriving at Manila on 27 October.

[5] Ordered home, Huron departed Manila on 31 December 1926 and arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 3 March 1927.

In August 1931, the ship was towed to Powell River, British Columbia, Canada, to serve as a floating breakwater for a large logging mill.

Coincidentally, some of the iron for her hull came from Texada Island, merely 5 mi (4.3 nmi; 8.0 km) from her Powell River resting place.