 In the course of her service with the Yangtze Patrol Force, the gunboat convoyed American and foreign merchantmen up and down the river, supplied armed guards to U.S. and British river craft, landed bluejackets at treaty ports threatened by unrest and evacuated foreign nationals in times of danger.Beginning in 1934, "Oahu" took up duty as station ship at various Yangtze ports supplying the increasing river traffic with naval armed guard detachments on a regular basis.Serving station ship duty at Ichang, Chungking, Hankow, Wuhu, and Nanking into 1937, the gunboat made intermittent patrols down the length of the river on convoy duty and then following the Japanese invasion of China in July, served as escort for merchantmen and protected American neutrality in the conflict.