 On 17 January 1920 , Prohibition was instituted by law in the United States . Soon , the smuggling of alcoholic beverages along the coastlines of the United States became widespread and blatant . The Treasury Department eventually determined that the United States Coast Guard simply did not have the ships to constitute a successful patrol . To cope with the problem , President Calvin Coolidge in 1924 authorized the transfer from the Navy to the Coast Guard of twenty old destroyers that were in reserve and out of commission . Wainwright was activated and acquired by the Coast Guard on 2 April 1926 , as part of a second group of five to augment the original twenty . 
