Yacona was built as a private yacht of that name in 1898 by John Scott and Company at their Abden Shipyard, Kinghorn, on the Firth of Forth, Scotland for Walter S Bailey of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire.
[1][3] On 18 July 1898 Scott's Yard number 102 was named Yacona and launched, as was their custom, with "steam up", departing immediately to Burntisland to prepare for sea trials.
[4] The yacht was not kept by Bailey for long, as he sold her in April 1899 to D. Carlos, King of Portugal for the latest of his oceanographic cruises, pursuing his interest in marine science and navigation.
On the same day (10 October) that that yard estimated that the alterations necessary to fit the ship out as an armed patrol vessel could be completed by 1 November, the Navy ordered her to proceed to Boston where the previous owner's own workmen could remove the pleasure craft's interior woodwork.
Yacona departed the New York Navy Yard shortly before the end of the forenoon watch on 6 February 1918 in company with Mariner and the converted yacht Wadena, bound for New London, Connecticut.
Eventually, by maneuvering at various courses and speeds, Yacona managed to push through the ice and reach her destination, dropping anchor late in the first watch on 7 February.
Pausing briefly at Newport, the next day, she then cast off from alongside Wadena and put to sea, bound for Bermuda during the morning watch on 24 February.
After that tug’s pumps failed, rising water put out her boiler fires; powerless, she had to be abandoned, Wadena rescuing her entire crew.
Reaching Bermuda on 1 March 1918, Yacona, whose crew discovered hundreds of pounds of water-damaged rations ranging from staples like sugar and flour to potatoes and pork sausage that had to be disposed-of as the result of the storm, remained there into April, undergoing needed voyage repairs.
She sailed on the morning of 8 April 1918 to escort a convoy that consisted of two U.S. Army tugs, Cadmus and Seminole, the tanker Chestnut Hill, the destroyer tender Leonidas, and submarine chasers SC-143, SC-147, SC-179, SC-227, SC-338, and SC-95.
En route to the Azores, Yacona conducted gunnery and general quarters drills and made part of the passage under sail to conserve coal.
Yacona made one more round-trip voyage to the Azores and back, escorting a group of six submarine chasers, the cruiser Salem and the Naval Overseas Transportation Service tanker John M. Connelly eastbound and returning westbound in company with old consort Wadena and the tugs Arctic, Goliah, and Undaunted on 20 June 1918.
Less thand a half-hour into the first dog watch on 9 October, while steaming in company with Chicago, Arethusa, Goliah, Arctic and Undaunted, the yacht spotted another "suspicious object" on the surface and went to general quarters.
The following day, she shifted her anchorage upriver and, on 15 December, briefly embarked Rear Admiral Thomas Washington, commander of the battleship division to which the ship had been attached, when he came on board from his flagship, Rhode Island.
Taken out of reserve and recommissioned on 11 October 1920, Yacona remained at the navy yard into February 1921, being cleaned and painted preparatory to a voyage to the Far East.
However, a board of investigation convened during the mid watch on 21 May determined that the quantity of coal she had received had proved to be of inferior quality, and she put back into Aden soon thereafter, where LT George M. Snead (SC), Yacona's supply officer went ashore to confer with representatives of Cory Brothers.
A representative of Cory Brothers visited the ship shortly after LT Snead returned, remaining on board for only a quarter of an hour, long enough, apparently, to confirm the Americans' complaint.