"Wainwright" continued to operate out of Queenstown until June 1918 when she was reassigned to United States naval forces in France. On the 8th, she reported for duty at Brest, the French port from which she conducted her patrols for the remainder of the war. Those patrols brought no further encounters with the enemy. Only two events of note occurred between June and November 1918. On the night of 19/20 October, she sighted what appeared to be a submarine running on the surface. However, upon closer inspection, the object proved to be a derelict carrying the crew of the 77-ton Portuguese schooner "Aida", which had been captured by German submarine and sunk with explosive charges. "Wainwright" took on the survivors and saw them safely into port. Later, during the evening of 1 November, heavy winds at Brest caused the destroyer to drag anchor: and she struck the breakwater. After had failed to pull her loose, the tug took over and finally managed to refloat the warship at 19:20 and towed her into Brest.