The first USS Du Pont (Torpedo Boat No.7/TB-7/Coast Torpedo Boat No. 3) was launched 30 March 1897 by Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.

Herreshoff Marine Museum

The Herreshoff Marine Museum, located in Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, is a maritime museum dedicated to the history of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, yachting, and the America's Cup...

, Bristol, R.I.

Bristol, Rhode Island

Bristol is a town in and the historic county seat of Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,954 at the 2010 census. Bristol, a deepwater seaport, is named after Bristol, England....

; sponsored by Miss L. Converse; and commissioned 23 September 1897, Lieutenant (junior grade) S. S. Wood in command.

Du Pont operated on the east coast, carrying dispatches and training Naval Reservists until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

. She carried orders and messages to ships lying at Dry Tortugas

Dry Tortugas

The Dry Tortugas are a small group of islands, located at the end of the Florida Keys, USA, about west of Key West, and west of the Marquesas Keys, the closest islands. Still further west is the Tortugas Bank, which is completely submerged. The first Europeans to discover the islands were the...

 and Key West, Fla., and served on picket and patrol duty off Key West and Matanzas

Matanzas

Matanzas is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas. It is famed for its poets, culture, and Afro-Cuban folklore.It is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Matanzas , east of the capital Havana and west of the resort town of Varadero.Matanzas is called the...

 and Santiago, Cuba. She returned to New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 9 August 1898.

Arriving at Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

 4 November 1898, Du Pont was placed out of commission 4 days later. She remained at Newport out of commission, employed occasionally in experimental and training duty. From 1901 to 1909 she was based at Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

 in the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla. During this time she was in commission twice: From September 1903 to September 1904 as a training ship at the Naval Academy

Naval Academy

-Institutions:* The United States Naval Academy* The Indian Naval Academy of India* The Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy of Bulgaria* The Imperial Japanese Naval Academy* The École Navale of France* The Britannia Royal Naval College of the United Kingdom...

, and from June 1905 to June 1906 for operations with the Coast Squadron on the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

.

Recommissioned 14 May 1909 Du Pont cruised along the coast with the Atlantic Torpedo Fleet until placed in reserve again at Charleston Navy Yard in November 1909. From May 1910 to June 1911 she served the Naval Militia of North Carolina, and after lying in Newport from October 1911 to May 1914, was loaned to the Naval Militia of Massachusetts 10 June 1914.

With the entry of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 into World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 Du Pont was recommissioned 9 April 1917 and assigned to duty in the 2d Naval District. The following year she was attached to Patrol Squadron, New London Section, for duty in Narragansett Bay

Narragansett Bay

Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound. Covering 147 mi2 , the Bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor, and includes a small archipelago...

. From 1 August 1918 she was known as Coast Torpedo Boat No. 3 to release the name Du Pont for new construction. She arrived at Philadelphia Navy Yard 24 January 1919, was decommissioned there 8 March 1919, and sold 19 July 1920.