 After Nicholson 's April 1915 commissioning , she sailed off the east coast and in the Caribbean . After the United States entered World War I in April 1917 , Nicholson was sent overseas to patrol the Irish Sea out of Queenstown , Ireland . In October 1917 , Nicholson steamed to the rescue of SS J. L. <unk> , driving off German submarine U @-@ 62 , which had shelled the American cargo ship for over three hours . In November , Nicholson and another U.S. destroyer , Fanning , were responsible for sinking German submarine U @-@ 58 , the first submarine taken by U.S. forces during the war . In September 1918 , Nicholson helped drive off U @-@ 82 after that U @-@ boat had torpedoed the American troopship Mount Vernon off the coast of France . 
