A new U-boat commander on his first patrol, Kapitänleutnant Ulrich Folkers took his U-125 to the east coast of the United States to find his hunting grounds. This was the second patrol for U-125 and Folkers her second commander, the boat failed to sink an enemy vessel on her first time out and she sank only one on this patrol.

West Ivis had been built at Ames Shipbuilding in Seattle, Washington in 1919, she was 410" 5" long with a beam of 54' 2", registered at 5,666 tons. She was armed with the standard 4" gun mounted on merchant ships, she also carried several anti-aircraft guns, these were all manned by U.S. Navy armed guards.

Folkers had departed Lorient, France for his patrol on Dec. 18, 1941 and patrolled the waters off New Jersey but reported no attacks, discouraged he moved south and found a sitting duck, the tanker Olney, which was aground on a shoal. He fired seven of his twenty-two torpedoes at the wreck and failed to hit it even once.

In the early hours of Jan. 26, 1942 the West Ivis came into the view of his periscope, she has departed New York on Jan. 24 heading for Buenos Aires when she came to grief. It was not learned for some time how she was lost, early reports surmised she made it as far as Barahona, Dominican Republic, but was lost due to an unspecified war cause.

In fact she had made it only as far as North Carolina before she was hit by two torpedoes fired from the stern tubes of U-125, the first torpedo fired missed. The stern tubes were used because three of the four bow tubes were inoperable. West Ivis sank less than a quarter of an hour later, giving time for the crew to launch lifeboats and move away from the ship, the U-boat crew reported seeing them do just that, but claim not to have approached the survivors for questioning.

How many men survived the attack and made it into the boats is not known as they were never found, even their loss was not confirmed for months. In March family members received a telegram from the War Shipping Administration, relayed to them from the ships owners, Pope and Talbot Inc. San Francisco.

"No message whatever has been received or intercepted from the vessel; no wreckage has been found and no unusual weather prevailed along the route. Under the circumstances, the vessel is declared a total loss as a result of war activities, and you are requested to notify the next of kin of the crew members."

On Sept. 29, 1942 a list of Merchant Marine casualties was released, the list included those who were on the West Ivis.

This was the only victim of the U-125 on this patrol, she had many more added to her tally before her loss. She was sunk on May 6, 1943 with her entire crew, including Folkers.