"Parker" had two steam turbines that drove her two screw propellers, and an additional pair triple-expansion steam engines, each connected to one of the propeller shafts, for cruising purposes. Four oil-burning boilers powered the engines, which could generate , moving the ship at the design speed of ; After sister ship failed to meet the design speed in her July 1913 builder's trials, "Parker" was outfitted with redesigned propellers, and exceeded the contracted speed in her trials in November, when she topped out at during runs off the Delaware Breakwater.