SC-19 was a wooden-hulled 110-foot (34 m) submarine chaser built at the New York Navy Yard at Brooklyn, New York. She was commissioned on 19 October 1917 as USS Submarine Chaser No. 19, abbreviated at the time as USS S.C. 19.
S.C. 19 was assigned to the Second Naval District Experimental Unit at New London, Connecticut.
When the U.S. Navy adopted its modern hull number system on 17 July 1920, Submarine Chaser No. 19 was classified as SC-19 and her name was shortened to USS SC-19.
On 24 June 1921, the Navy sold SC-19 to Joseph G. Hitner of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.