SC-40 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 13 February 1918 as USS Submarine Chaser No. 40, abbreviated at the time as USS S.C. 40.
In 1919, Submarine Chaser No. 40 participated in North Sea minesweeping operations to clear the North Sea Mine Barrage after World War I.
When the U.S. Navy adopted its modern hull number system on 17 July 1920, Submarine Chaser No. 40 was classified as SC-40 and her name was shortened to USS SC-40.
On 14 October 1924, the Navy sold SC-40 to the Florida Boat Company of Washington, D.C.