 In July 1920, she was assigned the hull code of DD-52 under the US Navy's alphanumeric classification system. In May 1921, Nicholson was reactivated with a reduced complement. She remained active for about a year, until she was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 26 May 1922. The ship was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 January 1936, and on 30 June was sold for scrapping.
