USS Boggs, a 1090-ton Wickes class destroyer built at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, was commissioned in September 1918. She performed her initial active service in the western Atlantic during the spring and early summer of 1919, then returned to the West Coast where she operated until decommissioned in June 1922. In mid-1931 Boggs was reclassified as an auxiliary (first as IX-36 and very soon afterwards as AG-19) and converted for employment as a radio-controlled target ship. She served in this role, as well as being used for towing targets and for minesweeping, for nearly a decade. In November 1940, after being transferred to Pearl Harbor from California, she was reclassified as a high-speed minesweeper, with the new hull number DMS-3.

Boggs mainly operated out of Pearl Harbor for the first two years of World War II, performing minesweeping, patrol, towing and transportation duties. In April 1944 she joined the Operational Training Command at San Diego, California, serving as a fast target tug. She was redesignated AG-19 in June 1945 and shortly afterwards sent to the central Pacific to provide target towing services closer to the combat zone. Returning to the United States early in 1946, USS Boggs was decommissioned in March and sold for scrapping in November of that year.

USS Boggs was named in honor of Rear Admiral Charles S. Boggs (1811-1877), who commanded several ships during the Civil War and led the European Fleet in the early 1870s.