Apache was built in 1917 by Herreshoff Manufacturing Company at Bristol, Rhode Island, as the civilian motorboat Herreshoff No. 311 for Robert F. Herrick of Boston, Massachusetts, who named her Apache and intended to offer her to the U.S. Navy for use as a patrol vessel during World War I. The U.S. Navy acquired her from Herrick on 23 May 1917 with a scheduled completion date by Herreshoff of 12 June 1917. She was commissioned as USS Apache (SP-729) at Boston on 7 July 1917.