 The U.S. Navy purchased her from Ayer on 14 June 1917.She was enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve on 21 June 1917, then commissioned on 9 July 1917 at Boston with Chief Boatswains Mate S. O. Joyce, USNRF, in command for service during World War I.Assigned to the 1st Naval District, "Lynx II" throughout the period of the United States participation in World War I served as a dispatch boat and dispatch and harbor patrol boat at Boston.