Built in 1943, she served in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific until her sinking in a suicide attack by a Japanese Kaiten manned torpedo on 24 July 1945.

He received a Bachelor of Science from Yale University and attended Harvard Law School before enlisting in the United States Navy Reserve as a Seaman Second Class on 8 November 1940.

After serving briefly at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York, Underhill was appointed an aviation cadet and was transferred on 6 February 1941 to the Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida, for flight training.

When VS-5 raided Tulagi on the morning of 4 May he flew his Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bomber against a heavy anti-aircraft barrage and contributed to the sinking or damaging of eight enemy vessels.

After trial runs and crew training, Underhill moved to the Boston Navy Yard for provisioning and loading of ammunition.

Underhill returned on 30 May 1944 to Boston Navy Yard, where her torpedo tubes were removed and replaced with Bofors 40 mm antiaircraft guns.

Her new area of operations was the Mediterranean Sea, where the Junkers Ju 88 dive bombers flying out of Southern France had been converted to torpedo planes and were taking a toll on British and French convoys.

Following training exercises in Casco Bay, Maine, Underhill got underway before dawn on Independence Day and steamed from Hampton Roads to screen UGS 47, a large, slow convoy bound for Mediterranean ports.

In the Mediterranean Sea on 21 and 22 July, she responded to several air raid warnings, but no enemy action materialized, although the last three convoys to pass along this route had been attacked by German planes.

After her first convoy in Bizerte, Underhill was ordered out into the Mediterranean Sea where she steamed all night at flank speed, fully illuminated in waters known to be populated with U-boats and overflown by German aircraft.

When returning to Bizerte, she struck a ship sunken in the channel and badly damaged her port propeller and shaft, which was repaired in Oran.

She escorted Convoy UGS 60 from Boston to Mers el Kebir in November; then engaged in anti-submarine warfare exercises out of Oran with the French submarine Doris.

She entered the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 21 December, departing for New London, Connecticut, on 8 January 1945 for a temporary assignment with Submarine Forces, Atlantic.

On 10 June 1945, Underhill left Leyte for Hollandia, but en route received a distress call from OA-10 #23, a Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat.

After Parker and the aircraft had left the area, Underhill's lookouts spotted green dye marker and a ration can floating in the water.

There, she was assigned to radar picket duty until relieved to serve as escort commander of Task Unit 99-1-18, a convoy from Buckner Bay, Okinawa back to Leyte Gulf on 21 July 1945.

After repeated direct hits by the 20-millimeter guns and 30-calibre rifle fire, the convoy realized the mine was a diversionary tactic by the Japanese submarines.

The explosions flung a tremendous quantity of oily water over the aft section, knocking down sailors and washing some overboard, but also dousing possible fires in that portion of the ship.

[citation needed] Although hampered in their rescue efforts by the necessity to pursue sound contacts and by alarms over real and imagined periscope sightings, PC-803 and PC-804 quickly came to the aid of survivors in the water and on the slowly sinking aft section.

On board Underhill, the wounded were brought to the boat and main decks, while unhurt survivors aided the injured and attempted to control the damage.

Chief Boatswain's Mate Stanley Dace was posthumously awarded the bronze star with combat "V" and citation of merit in August 1998.