USS Sussex was built in 1913 at Milton, Delaware, as a 74' 2" long steam-powered fishing craft. She was taken over by the Navy in May 1917, soon after the United States entered World War I. Commissioned at the end of that month, Sussex operated as a minesweeper in the Third Naval District for the remainder of the conflict and for a few months following the November 1918 Armistice. She was stricken from the Navy list in March 1919 and sold in January 1920.