She was laid down in January 1931 at the Bath, Maine shipyard of Bath Iron Works and launched on 28 November 1931 one of 18 Thetis-class patrol boats.[2][3] She was commissioned on 21 December 1931.[3] She was one of the early ships in the mid-1941 established Alaskan Sector (colloquially known as the "Alaskan Navy") of the 13th Naval District under CaptainRalph C. Parker.[4] During the Japanese attack on the Aleutian Islands in June 1942, she served as part of Task Force 8 under Rear AdmiralRobert A. Theobald, Commander of the North Pacific Force, tasked with defending Alaska from Japanese attack. She was part of Task Group 8.2 (the Surface Search Group) consisting of the patrol craft of Parker's fleet: his flagship, the gunboat (Charleston); 5 cutters (Aurora, Onondaga, Haida, Cyane, and Bonham); 14 YP patrol vessels; and a former minesweeper redesignated as an ocean tugboat (Oriole). TG 8.2 was to establish a picket line to signal any Japanese approach.[5][6][7] Their picket was augmented by planes from the Air Search Group consisting of twenty PBY Catalina flying boats (operated by seaplane tenders Williamson, Gillis, and Casco) and one land-based B-17 Flying Fortress bomber.[5]
^THE CAMPAIGNS of the PACIFIC WAR(PDF). United States Navy United States Strategic Bombing Survey (PACIFIC) Naval Analysis Division. 1946. p. 101. Surface Search Group, Commander Alaskan Sector, (Capt. Parker): One gunboat, 1 mine sweeper, 5 Coast Guard cutters, 14 small patrol vessels
^Vego lists Oriole as an oiler (AO) although she was designated a tugboat (old) or ATO on 15 May 1944. The Strategic Bombing Survey lists a minesweeper (AM) which was Oriole's designation until 1 June 1942 when she was designated an ocean tugboat (AT)
