"McFarland" returned to New York and on 15 September 1923 joined the Scouting Fleet at Newport, Rhode Island. With only two interruptions, she operated along the East coast and in the Caribbean for the next 17 years. The first interruption came with a cruise to Hawaii for the 1925 fleet problem involving an attack on Oahu; the second, a year out of commission, in reserve, at Philadelphia, 1931. On 2 August 1940, "McFarland", undergoing conversion, was redesignated AVD-14, seaplane tender (destroyer). On 5 October she was recommissioned in full and assigned to the Pacific Fleet.