Following shakedown off Cuba, "Jarvis" spent a year operating out of Norfolk, Virginia in the Caribbean. She departed Pensacola, Florida on 20 April 1914 for patrols off Tampico and Veracruz, Mexico, during the US occupation of Veracruz. Returning to Norfolk on 16 June, she operated in the Atlantic until departing New York on 26 May 1917 to join US Naval Forces operating in European waters under Vice Admiral William Sims.