 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 ; Nicholson helped sink U @-@ 58 in November 1917 , the first U @-@ boat sunk by the U.S. Navy . All six members of the class had returned to the United States in January 1919 and were decommissioned by June 1922 . In 1924 , two of the six — Ericsson and McDougal — 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 in 1932 and 1933 , respectively . All six ships had been sold for scrapping by June 1936 . 
