Surf was built as a commercial fishing trawler of the same name in 1911 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company at Quincy, Massachusetts, for the Bay State Fishing Company of Boston, Massachusetts. On 21 April 1917, the U.S. Navy leased her for use as a minesweeper during World War I. She was commissioned on 8 May 1917 as USS Surf (SP-341). Assigned to the 1st Naval District, Surf performed minesweeping duties in northern New England for the remainder of World War I. Surf was stricken from the Navy List on 2 April 1919 and returned to the Bay State Fishing Company the same day.