USS Avenger, a 74-foot section patrol boat, was built in 1917-1918 at Camden, New Jersey, for a private owner, probably with the intention of offering her for National defense purposes upon completion. She was leased to the Navy and placed in commission in May 1918, and began patrol duties in the Delaware Bay and New Jersey shore areas in July. Under repair from mid-August until October, she then resumed operations, which continued until a month after the 11 November Armistice had ended the First World War fighting. Avenger was disarmed, decommissioned and returned to her owner in December 1918. She remained on American yachting registers until the end of the 1920s.