Vencedor was built as the private motorboat Tekla by George Lawley & Son at Neponset, Massachusetts, in 1909. She later was renamed Vencedor. On 19 June 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired Vencedor under a free lease from her owner, H. H. Luedinghams, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, as USS Vencedor (SP-669) on 30 August 1917 with Ensign David Crow, USNRF, in command.