USS Farenholt, a 1620-ton Benson class destroyer, was built at Staten Island, New York. Commissioned in April 1942, she was soon sent to the south Pacific, where she participated in the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in early August as part of the escort for the carrier Wasp. She operated with that task force until 15 September 1942, when Wasp was sunk by a Japanese submarine. After a brief diversion to cover the occupation of Funafuti, to the southward of the Japanese-held Gilbert Islands, Farenholt joined a surface force that intercepted and defeated a group of enemy cruisers and destroyers in the Battle of Cape Esperance on 11-12 October. She was damaged by shellfire in that action, necessitating a trip to Hawaii for repairs.

Farenholt returned to the south Pacific war zone in March 1943, after the end of the Guadalcanal campaign. As preparations were being made to move into the central Solomons, she was kept busy in escort duties and helped repel Japanese air attacks on several occasions. At the end of June and into July 1943, the destroyer supported the landings at Rendova and the associated campaign to capture New Georgia, using her guns to bombard enemy positions and to fight off hostile aircraft. For the rest of 1943 and into the first two months of 1944, Farenholt remained active in the Solomons area, escorting shipping and participating in offensive surface operations. In November, she screened aircraft carriers during raids on Rabaul and the invasion of Bougainville. She covered the Green Island landings and twice took part in surface attacks on the Rabaul area during February, receiving gunfire damage during the last Rabaul raid.

Following a west coast overhaul, Farenholt was sent to the central Pacific, where she was involved in the July-August 1944 campaign to recapture Guam. During September and October, she supported carrier raids in the western Pacific, conducted shore bombardments, took part in the Palaus invasion and covered the retirement of the damaged cruisers Houston and Canberra. Escort and patrol duties in the Marianas and Carolines area followed until May 1945, when Farenholt arrived off Okinawa to participate in the last stages of the Ryukyus campaign. She escorted logistics ships during much of the last two months of World War II and took part in occupation efforts once the fighting ended. Returning to the U.S. in late 1945, she steamed to the east coast, where she decommissioned in April 1946. After more than twenty-five years in the Reserve Fleet, USS Farenholt was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in June 1971 and sold for scrapping in November 1972.