Following shakedown training out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "Whipple" returned to Philadelphia for post-shakedown availability. The destroyer sailed for the Near East on 29 May 1920 and arrived at Constantinople (renamed Istanbul in 1923), Turkey, on 13 June. For the next eight months, she operated in the region of the Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean, under the overall command of Admiral Mark L. Bristol, Commander, U.S. Naval Detachment in Near Eastern Waters. At this time, the entire Near East was in turmoil due to changes caused by, and in the wake of, World War I.