Kanawha II, a 575-ton steam yacht, was built at Morris Heights, New York, in 1899. After nearly two decades as a pleasure craft, she was acquired by the Navy in late April 1917 and commissioned at that time as USS Kanawha II (SP-130. Following brief service in the vicinity of New York City, in June she became one of the early ships sent across the Atlantic to operate in European waters. For the rest of the First World War, and for some months after the November 1918 Armistice, the ex-yacht performed patrol and convoy escort missions off western France, making occasional contact with German submarines. Kanawha II was renamed Piqua in March 1918, probably to avoid message confusion with the Navy oiler Kanawha. Her European service ended in May 1919, when Piqua began a month-long voyage back to the United States. She was decommissioned and returned to her owner at the beginning of July 1919.