HMS ''Bentley'' was a which served during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The ship was named after Sir John Bentley who entered the Royal Navy in 1720. Between 1744 and 1761 he commanded a series of ships and took part in the decisive victory at the

Battle of Quiberon Bay The Battle of Quiberon Bay (known as ''Bataille des Cardinaux'' in French) was a decisive naval engagement during the Seven Years' War. It was fought on 20 November 1759 between the Royal Navy and the French Navy in Quiberon Bay, off the coast ...

in 1759 while commanding a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line . Originally destined for the US Navy as a

turbo-electric A turbo-electric transmission uses electric generators to convert the mechanical energy of a turbine (steam or gas) into electric energy, which then powers electric motors and converts back into mechanical energy that power the driveshafts. Tu ...

(TE) type , HMS ''Bentley'' was provisionally given the name USS ''Ebert'' (later this name was reassigned to DE 768) however the delivery was diverted to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

before the launch.

Construction and design

The was one of six classes of

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

s built for the US Navy to meet the massive demand for escort vessels following America's entry into World War Two. While basically similar, the different classes were fitted with different propulsion gear and armament. The ''Buckley''s had a turbo-electric drive, and a main gun armament of 3-inch guns. The ''Buckley''- (or TE) class ships were

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

, with a beam of and a

mean There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics * Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was standard and full load. Two boilers fed steam to steam turbines which drove electrical generators, with in turn powered electric motors that propelled the ship. The machinery was rated at , giving a speed of . of oil was carried, giving a range of at . The ship's main gun armament consisted of three 3-inch (76 mm) 50 caliber dual-purpose (i.e. anti-surface and anti-aircraft) guns, two forward and one aft, in open mounts. Close in armament consisted of two

40 mm Bofors gun Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...

s, backed up by eight single

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models em ...

. A triple mount of 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes provided a capability against larger ships, while anti-submarine armament consisted of a

Hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introductio ...

forward-firing anti-submarine mortar and four depth charge throwers and two depth charge rails. Crew was 200 officers and other ranks. ''DE 74'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when the Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works. In 1917 it was incorporated as Bethlehem Shipbuilding C ...

's Hingham Shipyard, in

Hingham, Massachusetts Hingham ( ) is a town in metropolitan Greater Boston on the South Shore (Massachusetts), South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts in northern Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, t ...

on 26 April 1943. She was originally planned to serve with the US Navy with the name ''Ebert'', but was allocated to Great Britain under the

Lend Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

programme on 10 July 1943. The ship was launched as HMS ''Bentley'' on 17 July 1943 and commissioned in the

, with the pennant number K465, on 13 October 1943.

Service

HMS ''Bentley'' served exclusively with the 1st Escort Group taking part in operations in the North Atlantic. On 18 February 1944, the German submarine torpedoed and sunk the Panamanian merchant ship ''Colin'' in the North Atlantic. The next day, ''Bentley'' and sister ship rescued the 54 survivors from ''Colin''. In June 1944, the Allies invaded Normandy, and the 1st Escort Group, including ''Bentley'', was one of six Escort Groups deployed to form a barrier about 130 miles west of

Lands End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

to prevent German

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

s based in the French Atlantic ports from interfering with the landings. In December 1944, ''Bentley'' remained part of the 1st Escort Group, based at

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

and operating at the western end of the Channel. By March–April 1945, the 1st Escort Group, still including ''Bentley'' was operating out of

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

against German submarines in the Channel.

Disposal

Following the end of the war, ships supplied to the Royal Navy under Lend Lease were soon returned to the United States, with ''Bentley'' being returned to United States Navy control on 5 November 1945. The ship was stricken from the US

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 15 December 1945 and sold for scrap to John J. Witte of Staten Island on 17 July 1947.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Uboat.net page for HMS Bentley

captainclassfrigates.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley (K465) Captain-class frigates Buckley-class destroyer escorts World War II frigates of the United Kingdom Ships built in Hingham, Massachusetts 1943 ships