 "Fulton" was commissioned on 7 December 1914, Lieutenant J. D. Wilson in command.During her first six months of service, "Fulton" tended submarines at Norfolk, Charleston, New York, and Newport, then after overhaul, arrived at New London on 2 November 1915, where in 1918 she was the base ship for the newly formed Submarine School.Through 1922, this was to be her principal base for operations with submarines along the east coast and in the Caribbean from Cape Cod to Cuba.