Detached on 11 October 1907 from the Atlantic Fleet, Stringham was placed in reserve, in reduced commission, on 31 January 1908 at the Norfolk Navy Yard.

Recommissioned on 14 August 1909, Stringham was assigned duty as flagship of the 3d Division, Atlantic Torpedo Flotilla, on 9 September.

Assigned to temporary duty with the 1st Torpedo Division on 1 April 1910, Stringham was transferred to the Engineering Experimental Station at Annapolis, MD, on 14 September.

On 26 July 1912, near Annapolis, Maryland, Stringham successfully received the first radio signal transmitted from an aircraft to a surface ship.

Ensign Charles H. Maddox, USN, transmitted "We are off the water, going ahead full speed on a course for the Naval Academy" from an altitude of 300 feet to the Stringham, distant three nautical miles.