Pillsbury (DE–133) was laid down by the Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Texas, 18 July 1942; launched 10 January 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Elsie G. Richardson; and commissioned 7 June 1943, Lt. Comdr.

[citation needed] On 4 June 1944, about 100 miles off the Cape Verde islands, sound contact was made on a U-boat trying to penetrate the destroyer screen for a shot at the Guadalcanal.

Their depth charges blasted a hole in the outer hull of the submarine and her captain, believing his boat was doomed, surfaced and ordered the crew to abandon ship, which they did while leaving her engines running.

The party boarded the still-circling U-505, climbed its conning tower and stormed down the hatches, fully expecting to meet stiff resistance.

After hostilities with Germany ended, Pillsbury and USS Pope escorted the first surrendered German U-boat, U-858, from mid-Atlantic to Cape May, New Jersey after placing a prize crew aboard.

In June 1954, the vessel was moved to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, fitted out with the latest equipment, redesignated a radar picket ship, DER–133, in August 1954 and recommissioned 15 March 1955.

She decommissioned 20 June 1960; was struck from the Naval Vessel Register 1 July 1965; and was sold for scrapping to Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, Maryland, in 1966.