 After Cushing 's August 1915 commissioning , she sailed off the east coast and in the Caribbean . She was one of the U.S. destroyers sent out to rescue survivors from five victims of German submarine U @-@ 53 off the Lightship Nantucket in October 1916 . After the United States entered World War I in April 1917 , Cushing was sent overseas to patrol the Irish Sea out of Queenstown , Ireland . Cushing made several unsuccessful attacks on U @-@ boats , and rescued survivors of several ships sunk by the German craft . 
