Vedette was built in 1914 as a civilian motorboat of the same name by the Electric Launch Company (ELCO) at Bayonne, New Jersey. She was operating in the Panama Canal Zone as the property of the Panama Canal Company when the U.S. Navy acquired her for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She never received a section patrol (SP) number. Vedette served on section patrol duties in the Panama Canal Zone for the rest of World War I. The Navy returned her to the Panama Canal Company on 31 December 1918.