"Wando" subsequently performed buoy and net-tending functions off the Cornfield Light Vessel from 10 September 1917 to 13 September 1917. "Wando" returned to New London on 16 September 1917 and the following day had more minesweeping gear installed. She again transported Captain Belknap as a passenger, from New London to Newport, before heading for Norfolk. For the remainder of September, "Wando" operated at "Base One," Tangier Sound, mooring target rafts, working on target moorings and making brief trips to the Norfolk Navy Yard for repairs or supplies. "Wando" subsequently remained in the Chesapeake Bay-Hampton Roads-Tangier Sound region through the autumn months of 1917 and into the winter. Detached from her duty with the Mine Force on 19 November 1917, "Wando" resumed her operations with the Atlantic Fleet Train. However, she continued to perform the same basic duties, serving as target and net tender and delivering mail and dispatches through the end of March 1918. She subsequently towed targets for battleships engaging in gunnery exercises off the southern drill grounds, off the Virginia Capes and later laid buoys at the Potomac River Torpedo Range, off the mouth of the St. Mary's River. "Wando" deployed in the Caribbean for the first time in early 1919. Underway from Norfolk on 6 February 1919, she arrived at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 14 February 1919, with "Pontoon No. 23" in tow. She performed her unglamorous service functions for the Fleet — towing targets, lighters and barges and delivering men and mail — in Cuban waters at Guantanamo Bay, Guacanayabo Bay and Manzanillo Bay until 17 April 1919, when she headed back to the United States. Reaching New York on the 18 April 1919, "Wando" subsequently shifted to Hoboken, New Jersey, where she underwent repairs over the first few days of May 1919. Returning to Norfolk on 6 May 1919, "Wando" towed targets and performed general utility service with the Atlantic Fleet Train through mid-July 1919 and then operated in waters off the northern part of the United States East Coast out of Newport, New London and New York. She remained at New York City from 10 August 1919 to 10 January 1920. Underway for Norfolk on 10 January 1920, "Wando" arrived there the next day but, on 14 January 1920, sailed south for Charleston. which she reached on 16 January 1920. Detached from the Atlantic Fleet Train on 26 January 1920, "Wando" was simultaneously assigned duties as a yard craft at the Charleston Navy Yard, her crew reduced to 14 men.