On 7 February 1927, "Shirk" sailed from San Diego and participated in exercises off Panama and, after transiting the Canal on 5 March, operated in the Caribbean with the fleet. She departed the Caribbean on 22 April and visited New York, and conducted a joint Army and Navy exercise in Narragansett Bay before arriving at Hampton Roads on 29 May 1927 for the Presidential review. She arrived in the Panama Canal Zone on 9 June 1927 for duty off Nicaragua with the Special Service Squadron, protecting lives and property of American and other foreign nationals there supporting peacekeeping operations. She patrolled off Nicaragua from 1 to 23 July, and returned to San Diego on 23 August. During operations off San Diego, she rescued a disabled man on SS "Georgian" and carried him into port on 29 August.