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USS Farquhar (DE-139)
Encyclopedia
USS Farquhar (DE-139) was an built for the U.S. Navy during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She served in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
and air attack for Navy vessels and convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
s.
She was named in honor of Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
Norman von Heldreich Farquhar
Norman von Heldreich Farquhar
Rear Admiral Norman von Heldreich Farquhar was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War...
, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1859 and had a distinguished record of accomplishments.
Farquhar (DE-139) was launched 13 February 1943 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd., Orange, Texas
Orange, Texas
Orange is a city in Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 18,643. It is the county seat of Orange County, and is the easternmost city in Texas. Located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, it is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur...
; sponsored by Miss S. B. Carton, great-granddaughter of Admiral Farquhar; and commissioned 5 August 1943, Lieutenant Commander L. E. Rosenberg, USNR, in command.
World War II Atlantic Ocean operations
Farquhar arrived at Norfolk, VirginiaNorfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, 3 October 1943, and next day sailed on the first of three convoy escort voyages to Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
. She returned from each to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
for replenishment and repairs before joining a new convoy at Norfolk. On 3 April 1944, she sailed for Casablanca once more, this time in a hunter-killer group formed around . The group guarded the passage of a convoy, hunting submarines in the general area through which the convoy sailed.
Rescuing survivors at sea
Returning to New York 9 June 1944, Farquhar trained in antisubmarine warfare at BermudaBermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
with the hunter-killer group, then sailed on the Casablanca convoy route once more. Homeward bound, on 2 August she went to the rescue of who had been torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
ed while away from the group searching for a previously sighted target, and arrived in time to rescue 186 survivors. These she took into Argentia, Newfoundland, for medical attention and clothing, then on to Boston, Massachusetts, where they were landed. In September, she began patrols and convoy escort duty in the South Atlantic with the hunter-killer group. She voyaged from Bahia, Brazil, to Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
, French West Africa
French West Africa
French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea , Côte d'Ivoire , Upper Volta , Dahomey and Niger...
, and Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, Union of South Africa
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
, and during a submarine hunt off the Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
Islands on 30 September, made a contact against which she and her sisters operated 6 days, finally sighting a large oil slick, but no other evidence of a sunken submarine.
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 FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
waters as plane guard for carriers conducting operations to qualify aviators, rescued a downed pilot 3 February 1945. She returned to Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...
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
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
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 to the bottom.
End-of-War activity
Farquhar prepared at Boston and Guantanamo Bay for duty in the Pacific, and arrived at Pearl HarborPearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
8 August 1945. Escort duty took her to Eniwetok 5 September, and on 10 September she sailed in company with to receive the surrender of Ponape
Pohnpei
Not to be confused with Pompeii, the ancient city destroyed by Vesuvius in AD 79.Pohnpei "upon a stone altar " is the name of one of the four states in the Federated States of Micronesia , situated among the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group...
. There she served as station ship for several months, then sailed from Kwajalein
Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...
early in January 1946 for the east coast.
She was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Green Cove Springs, Florida
Green Cove Springs, Florida
Green Cove Springs is a city in Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,908. It is the county seat of Clay County....
, 14 June 1946.