USS Wilhoite (DE-397) - U-546 Sinks Frederick C. Davis

U-546 Sinks Frederick C. Davis

The next day, U-546 torpedoed and sank Frederick C. Davis, the last American combatant ship loss in the Battle of the Atlantic. However, the U-boat had little time to savor the victory, for the entire scouting line of destroyer escorts moved swiftly to the scene to rescue their sistership's survivors and to commence ASW operations. U-546 was brought to the surface, damaged, and sunk by gunfire from the destroyer escorts, quickly avenging Frederick C. Davis's loss.

Over the next few days, Wilhoite conducted more "barrier patrols" as part of a group of warships carrying out sweeps in scouting line formation. The ships formed around two escort carriers, Bogue and Card, the former patrolling to the south, the latter to the north.

At 2000 on 7 May, Wilhoite, Haverfield, and Flaherty proceeded to the scene of a "disappearing radar contact" that had been made by Otter . At 2125, Wilhoite reached the point of contact and commenced a search in company with Haverfield, Flaherty, Otter, Swenning and Varian. At 2202, however, the search was cancelled abruptly, and the ships returned to their previous scouting line stations. While the ships had been engaged in their search, Germany, worn down by pressure from the western Allies on the one hand and the ceaseless heavy pressure by the Russians on the other, surrendered at Reims, France, on 7 May. World War II, as far as the European theater was concerned, was over.