Fearless was built as a commercial steam fishing trawler of the same name in 1877. On 20 May 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired her for use during World War I. Assigned the section patrol number 724, she was commissioned as USS Fearless (SP-724) in 1917. Assigned to the 4th Naval District, Fearless served for the rest of World War I as a tug in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area. She apparently remained in naval service after the end of the war. Fearless was sold on 30 September 1921.