First assigned to the United States Battle Fleet in San Diego, California, Tucker operated along the West Coast and in the Hawaiian Islands.

[1] The Mahans' standard displacement was 1,500 long tons (1,524 t) larger, and they were equipped with a more efficient steam propulsion system and designed to carry 12 torpedo tubes, an increase of four over the Farragut-class.

Tucker carried a maximum of 523 long tons (531 t) of fuel oil, with a trial range of 7,300 nautical miles (13,500 km; 8,400 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).

[9] After her shakedown cruise, she joined destroyer forces attached to the United States Battle Fleet in San Diego, California.

In February 1939, she took part in Fleet Problem XX, a naval exercise held in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean and observed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In United States Navy Destroyers of World War II, John Reilly, Jr. described the uncommon method used to power the vessel on its return to Hawaii: ... Tucker stretched her fuel supply by rigging Sails.

Her homemade foresail and mainsail moved Tucker at an estimated 3.4 knots, letting her maintain steerageway as she loitered on station several days.

After a short stay, Tucker steamed to Hawaii in November as part of Task Force 19, operating again in the Hawaiian Islands.

[12] Even before Tucker's general quarters alarm could be sounded, one of her on-deck sailors began firing a 50-caliber machine gun at the first wave of Japanese aircraft.

[13] After her overhaul, Tucker patrolled off Pearl Harbor and spent several months escorting convoys between Hawaii and the West Coast.

Tucker then escorted the seaplane tender Wright to Tutuila, American Samoa, as part of the drive to fortify outposts.

[10] On 1 August 1942 Tucker left Suva, escorting the cargo ship SS Nira Luckenbach to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides.

[10] On 4 August Tucker led the cargo ship into the harbor at Espiritu Santo, as she headed into the western entrance, she struck at least one mine.

[14] The ship had steamed into the Segond Channel unaware that the minelayers Gamble, Breese, and Tracy had laid mines at its western entrance.

[14] Three days after Tucker sank, the seagoing tugboat Navajo arrived on site with divers, salvaging her guns, turbines, anchors and chains.

Settling in just 60 feet (18 m) of water, the ship was easily accessible to private salvors, who harvested anything of value, ransacking and further scattering Tucker's remains.

What is important is that the memory of these ships be kept alive by telling their stories.Tucker and SS President Coolidge, a troopship, suffered similar fates less than three months apart; both were sunk in different locations of the same U.S. Navy minefield, and both later became diving sites.