Built in 1916 by the Charleston Naval Shipyard at Charleston, South Carolina as Fleet Tug No. 17 "Wando" for the United States Navy.
On 17 July, 1920, she was redesignated as the AT-17 , and was then decommissioned and placed in reserve at Charleston, South Carolina in April of 1922.
After several years, she was sailed to the Pacific coast and recommissioned at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California on 15 March, 1933. She was then sent to Bremerton Naval Shipyard to serve the Navy's 13th district.
In 1936, the tug was redesignated as YT-123, and again in 1944 as YTB-123.
She was decommissioned on 3 July, 1946, and in 1947, acquired by Puget Sound Tug and Barge Company of Seattle, Washington, a subsidiary of the Crowley Launch and Tugboat Company of San Francisco, California. Where the tug retained the name Wando.
In 1950, she was rebuilt and her original steam powerplant was replaced with a Fairbanks-Morse diesel rated at 1,800 horsepower. The tug was laid-up on Lake Union in Seattle, Washington in 1975.
The tug is no longer in documentation. Her current and or final fate is unknown. She was a single-screw tug with 1,800 horsepower.