USS Farquhar (DE-139) - Sinking German Submarine U-881

Sinking German Submarine U-881

During training exercises off Cuba in December 1944 Farquhar rescued 10 aviators from liferafts after their patrol bomber splashed, and while in Florida waters as plane guard for carriers conducting operations to qualify aviators, rescued a downed pilot 3 February 1945. She returned to Guantanamo Bay for training with the Mission Bay group later in February, and with it arrived at Argentia, Newfoundland, 3 April for hunter-killer operations in the North Atlantic. While bound for New York 6 May, she made a sonar contact, very close, early in the morning. Just 5 minutes after it was reported, she dropped 13 depth charges, set shallow, and both she and her sisters could make no further contact with the target. Post-war evaluation revealed that she had been the last American ship to sink a submarine in the Atlantic in World War II, sending U-881 to the bottom.