Norman von Heldreich Farquhar

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For other uses of Farquhar, see Farquhar (disambiguation)

Rear Admiral Norman von Heldreich Farquhar (11 April 1840 – 3 July 1907) was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

After graduation from the Naval Academy, he served with the Africa Squadron until September 1861 when he sailed a prize slaver home to the United States.

Lieutenant Farquhar spent most of the Civil War off the U.S. Atlantic coast and in the West Indies, serving in the gunboats Mystic, Sonoma and Mahaska and the cruiser Rhode Island. At the close of the war, he was executive officer of Santiago de Cuba. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in mid-1865, a few months after the fighting ended, and was on duty at the U.S. Naval Academy from then until September 1868. For the rest of the 1860s and into the next decade, Farquhar served in the warship Swatara, was Executive Officer of Severn and Powhatan and Commanding Officer of Kansas. He also had two tours at the Boston Navy Yard on ordnance duty and as Executive Officer.

Advanced in rank to Commander in December 1872, Farquhar spent nearly five years at the Naval Academy. He commanded the training ship Portsmouth in 1877-78, and the steam sloops Quinnebaug and Wyoming in European waters in 1878-1881. Five more years of Naval Academy duty were followed by torpedo instruction at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1886. From May 1887 until her loss in the March 1889 Samoan hurricane, Captain Farquhar commanded the steam frigate Trenton. Farquhar was commended for his fine handling of his ship during that disastrous 1889 hurricane at Apia, Samoa, in which she and a number of other American and foreign naval vessels were lost.

He then served on several of the Navy's boards and, in March 1890 became the Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. During 1894-97, he was Commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Commanding Officer of the cruiser Newark, and President of the Naval Examining Board.

While holding the ranks of Commodore and Rear Admiral, Farquhar was Commandant of the Norfolk Navy Yard in 1897-99, commanded the North Atlantic Station during 1899-1901 and was Chairman of the Lighthouse Board in 1901-02.

Rear Admiral Farquhar retired 11 April 1902, and died at Jamestown, Rhode Island, 3 July 1907.

Two ships have been named USS Farquhar for him.

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.