W.T. James, a 267 gross ton "Menhadden fisherman" type steam trawler, was built at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1912, and operated out of Virginia over the next five years. She was taken over by the Navy in May 1917 for World War I service, converted for warlike duties and commissioned in August 1917. Under the terms of General Order # 314, issued in late July 1917, her name was officially shortened to James, but her original name, W.T. James, also continued in use, at least informally. After crossing the Atlantic in late August and September, by way of the Azores, she began convoy escort operations off France.

Later in 1917, James was refitted for minesweeping. Based at Lorient, she spent the rest of the First World War I, and the early months of the post-war era, in a constant effort to clear German submarine-laid mines, and also performed convoy and patrol duties until the 11 November 1918 Armistice removed the threat of direct submarine attack. On 27 April 1919, while en route back to the United States, she encountered heavy weather and began taking on water. An attempt to tow her back to Brest was unsuccessful and, after all of her crewmen were taken off, USS James sank off the French coast on the morning of 28 April.