Juniata was built as the private motor yacht Josephine by Robert Jacobs at City Island in the Bronx, New York, in 1911. She later was renamed Juniata. On 1 June 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired Juniata from her owner, G. W. Elkins of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard the same day as USS Juniata (SP-602) with Lieutenant, junior grade, W. G. Morse, USNRF, in command. Juniata was decommissioned on 13 July 1918 and returned to Elkins on 25 July 1918.