 Wainwright again briefly patrolled Hampton Roads before heading for the New York Navy Yard on 14 April , and on to Boston , where she arrived two days later , to prepare for overseas duty . On 24 April , the destroyer departed Boston in company with Wadsworth , Porter , Davis , Conyngham , and McDougal , bound for the British Isles . This division — led by Commander Joseph K. Taussig — was the first American naval unit to be sent to Europe . The destroyers reached Queenstown on the southern coast of Ireland on 4 May and , after fueling , began patrolling the southern approaches to Liverpool and other British ports on the coast of the Irish Sea . 
