During that voyage, the armored cruiser touched at Hampton Roads and Piney Point, Maryland; Colón, Panama; Chiriquí Lagoon; and Mona Passage before she returned to Newport News on 26 November.

[4] Washington departed Hampton Roads on 11 June and proceeded via Bradford, Rhode Island, to Newport where she joined Tennessee before heading across the Atlantic on the 14th, bound for European waters.

The sister ships visited the French ports of Royan, Île-d'Aix, La Pallice, and Brest from 23 June to 25 July, before returning to Tompkinsville in August to run speed trials.

[4] Washington operated off the west coast into 1909 before she made preparations to sail in company with the Armored Cruiser Squadron to "show the flag" in the Far East.

[4] Washington next operated off the west coast into the autumn of 1910, holding target practices off Santa Cruz, California, before returning to San Francisco.

On 14 August, she departed San Francisco, bound for South America on the first leg of her voyage to the east coast to join the Atlantic Fleet.

With the ships of the 1st Division of the Pacific Fleet, Washington visited Valparaíso, Chile, and took part in the observances of the Chilean Centennial Celebration from 10 to 23 September.

She then resumed her voyage around South America, touching at Talcahauano and Punta Arenas, Chile; Rio de Janeiro; Carlisle Bay, Barbados; and St. Thomas, Danish West Indies; before she arrived at Culebra, Puerto Rico, on 2 November to prepare for target practice with the Fleet.

The armored cruiser subsequently underwent another period of repairs at the Portsmouth Navy Yard before heading south with stores and material for delivery to the 5th Division of the Fleet in Cuban waters.

[4] The armored cruiser operated off the northeastern seaboard through the summer of 1911, holding exercises and maneuvers in areas ranging from Cape Cod Bay to Hampton Roads.

During that time, she cruised briefly with the Naval Militia from 19 to 21 July; acted as a reference ship for torpedo practice off Sandwich Island, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on 2 August; witnessed the Delaware as that ship fired at the target hulk San Marcos (former USS Texas) on 27–28 August, and then conducted battle practice with the Fleet off the southern drill grounds.

Washington subsequently returned home to Hampton Roads in company with her sister ship and went into drydock at the Norfolk Navy Yard three days before Christmas of 1911.

In the ensuing weeks, Washington carried Philander C. Knox and his guests to such ports as Colón, Panama; Port Limón, Costa Rica; Puerto Barrios, Guatemala; La Guaira, Venezuela; Santo Domingo; St. Thomas; Puerto Cabello, Venezuela; San Juan; Port-au-Prince; Guantánamo Bay; Kingston, Jamaica; and Havana, before disembarking her distinguished guests at Piney Point, Maryland, on 16 April.

[4] The high point of the spring of 1912 for Washington was her service as temporary flagship for the Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, while she was at the Philadelphia Navy Yard from 19 April to 3 May.

There, she awaited further orders from 30 May to 10 June, while President Taft concentrated a strong naval force there to prepare for possible action which might be required by internal problems in Cuba.

Later that spring, the armored cruiser took aboard drafts of men from Norfolk and Port Royal, South Carolina, on 30 April and 2 May; touched at Key West, and proceeded to Santo Domingo.

In the meantime, the situation in the Dominican Republic had worsened when government shellings of rebel positions in Puerto Plata resulted in an inevitable "incident".

The United States government sent a commission consisting of John Franklin Fort, the former governor of New Jersey; James M. Sullivan, the American minister to Santo Domingo; and Charles Smith, a New Hampshire lawyer, to mediate a peace in the Dominican Republic.

[4] Both sides ultimately accepted the American suggestions which provided for the establishment of a constitutional government and the institution of elections under United States "observation.

The armored cruiser, flying the flag of Rear Admiral William B. Caperton and commanded by Captain Edward L. Beach Sr. (father of future naval officer Edward L. Beach Jr., who would win fame as a famous submariner and author) stayed in port there until the 26th investigating "political conditions" before she shifted to the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on 27 January.

[4] While Washington awaited further developments at Cap-Haïtien, events in Port-au-Prince deteriorated, moving American chargé d'affaires Davis to send a telegram on 27 July to the Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, reporting the troubled conditions.

The mobs of angry Haitians, however, were not concerned with such international niceties; they invaded the legation at 10:30 on 28 July 1915, forcibly removed former President Sam, killed and dismembered him, and paraded portions of his body on poles around the city.

The armored cruiser steamed north, via New York and Boston; reached Portsmouth, New Hampshire on 29 February; and began an overhaul in the navy yard there which lasted until the end of March.

[4] The ship was renamed Seattle on 9 November 1916—in order that her original name might be used for the new Colorado-class battleship USS Washington (BB-47)—but retained her classification as Armored Cruiser No.

On 6 April 1917, the United States, after attempting to remain neutral despite repeated incidents on the high seas, finally entered World War I.

"[4] Seattle operated on comparatively uneventful escort duties for the remainder of World War I, completing her ninth round-trip voyage at New York on 27 October 1918.

[4] Reviewed by President Woodrow Wilson on 12 September at her namesake city—Seattle—the armored cruiser shifted to the Puget Sound Navy Yard where she was placed in "reduced commission".

In that role, over the next four years, she wore the four-starred flags of a succession of officers: Admirals Hilary P. Jones, Robert Coontz, Samuel S. Robison (who was embarked in the ship at the time of the Australian cruise of 1925), and Charles F. Hughes.