Young was laid down on 28 January 1919 at San Francisco, California, by the Union Iron Works Plant of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation; launched on 8 May 1919; sponsored by Mrs. John R. Nolan; designated DD-312 on 17 July 1920; and commissioned on 29 November 1920.

However, she did fire short-range battle practices, operated briefly off the Mexican Coronados Islands, and recovered torpedoes for Idaho (BB-42) during the autumn of the year 1922.

Upon completion of one phase of the exercises, she was present in Panama Bay when Secretary of the Navy Edwin C. Denby, accompanied by a party of congressmen embarked in the transport Henderson (AP-1), reviewed the Fleet on 14 March.

William L. Calhoun, Young's commanding officer, knew that there was no time to launch boats or rafts as the ship's list increased alarmingly following the grounding.

Calhoun accordingly passed the word, through his executive officer, Lt. E. C. Herzinger, and Chief Boatswain's Mate Arthur Peterson, to make for the port side, to stick with the ship, and to not jump.

While the survivors clung to their precarious, oily, surf-battered refuge, Boatswain's Mate Peterson proposed to swim 100 yards to a rocky outcropping to the eastward known as Bridge Rock.

At that juncture, Peterson dived into the sea and swam through the tumbling surf with a line to the nearby Chauncey, which was also aground but in a far better predicament since she had remained on a comparatively even keel.

The Board also cited Boatswain's Mate Peterson for his "extraordinary heroism" in swimming through the turbulent seas with a line to Chauncey; Lt. Herzinger drew praise for his "especially meritorious conduct" in helping to save the majority of the ship's crew.

Calhoun's display of leadership and personality that saved "three-quarters of the crew of the Young" and Lt. Herzinger for his "coolness and great assistance in the face of grave danger."

Also commended by the admiral was Fireman First Class J. T. Scott, who attempted to close off the master oil valve to prevent a boiler explosion, volunteering to go below to the fireroom and go below the floor plates.