Named for John Yarnall, she was laid down on 12 February 1918 at Philadelphia by William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company.

Yarnall returned from the Far East to the United States late in the summer of 1921 and began repairs at Puget Sound.

As a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's program to bolster the minuscule Atlantic Squadron after war broke out in Europe in September 1939, Yarnall ended her 21-month, second retirement on 4 October 1939 when she was recommissioned at Philadelphia.

Yarnall was one of the 50 elderly destroyers chosen to be transferred to the Royal Navy in return for the right to establish American bases on British territory in the western hemisphere.

Lincoln was modified for trade convoy escort service by removal of three of the original 4"/50 caliber guns and one of the triple torpedo tube mounts to reduce topside weight for additional depth charge stowage and installation of Hedgehog.

[1] After the refit, she was transferred to the exiled Royal Norwegian Navy as HNoMS Lincoln and served with the Western Local Escort Force, operating along the Newfoundland coast between Halifax, Nova Scotia and St. John's.

Her duty in Canadian waters continued until the end of 1943, when she returned to Britain departing Halifax on 19 December and arriving back in Londonderry Port on Christmas Day.