She was one of several similar craft constructed at that time by the same builder, probably a result of the national Preparedness Movement that arose in the United States in the months prior to the U.S. entry into World War I.

In July 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired Vitesse under a free lease from her owner, Charles Fry, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I.

Assigned to operate from the section base at Cape May, New Jersey, as part of the 4th Naval District's harbor entrance patrol, Vitesse departed Philadelphia on the afternoon of 9 August 1917, carrying 1,000 hymn books for the chaplain at Cape May and confidential publications for the commander of the harbor entrance patrol there.

In addition, she occasionally carried dispatches to other boats on patrol and stood by, ready to assist other nearby small craft in need of aid.

Vitesse escorted the patrol vessel USS Aloha (SP-317), the flagship of Rear Admiral Cameron McRae Winslow (1854-1932), Inspector of Naval Districts, Atlantic Coast, when he inspected the wreck of the steamer SS Herbert Pratt off Lewes, Delaware, on 4 and 5 June 1918.