 All six ships operated in the Atlantic or Caribbean until the U.S. entrance into World War I in April 1917 , when all six were sent overseas to Queenstown , Ireland , for convoy escort duties . Several of the ships rescued passengers and crew from ships sunk by U @-@ boats , and several had encounters with U @-@ boats themselves ; Jacob Jones was torpedoed and sunk by U @-@ 58 in December 1917 . All five surviving members of the class had returned to the United States by early 1919 and been decommissioned by June 1922 . Between 1924 and 1926 , four of the five ( all but Wadsworth ) were commissioned into the United States Coast Guard to help enforce Prohibition as a part of the " Rum Patrol " . They were returned to U.S. Navy custody between 1934 and 1936 , and had all been sold for scrapping by 1936 . 
