HMS Bazely

History
United States
Name	USS Bazely
Builder	Boston Navy Yard
Laid down	5 April 1942
Launched	27 June 1942
Fate	Transferred to Royal Navy, 18 February 1943
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Bazely
Builder	Boston Navy Yard
Acquired	18 February 1943
Decommissioned	20 August 1945
United States
Name	USS Bazely
Commissioned	20 August 1945
Decommissioned	22 October 1945
Stricken	16 November 1945
Fate	Broken up 1946
General characteristics
Class and type	Template:Sclass-
Displacement	1,400 long tons (1,400 t)
Length	289 ft 6 in (88.24 m)
Beam	35 ft (11 m)
Draft	10 ft (3.0 m)
Speed	19 knots (22 mph; 35 km/h)
Complement	175
Armament	3 × 3-inch (76 mm) guns 2 × 40 mm guns 6 × 20 mm guns 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar 4 × depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks
Service record
Commanders:	Lt Lester H. Watson, USNR (20 August 1945)
Victories:	U-648, U-600 (1943) U-636 (1945)

The second USS Bazely (DE-2) was a Lend-Lease destroyer escort in the United States Navy. She served in the Royal Navy as HMS Bazely (K311) during World War II. The ship was returned to the United States following the war and was discarded shortly thereafter. She was named for John Bazely.

Service history

Bazely was laid down on 5 April 1942 by the Boston Navy Yard and launched on 27 June 1942. Allocated to the Royal Navy under lend lease on 18 February 1943, Bazely given the pendant number K311. She earned battle honours in the Atlantic Ocean between 1943 and 1945 and in the Arctic Ocean in 1945. During her wartime career under the White Ensign, she figured prominently in the destruction of three German submarines. She teamed with Blackwood and Drury on 23 November 1943 to sink U-648 and, together with Blackwood sank U-600 on 25 November. Her third and last "kill" came on 21 April 1945, shortly before the end of the war in Europe, when she cooperated with Drury and Bentinck to destroy U-636.

The Royal Navy returned Bazely to American hands on 20 August 1945 at Chatham, England. Manned by officers and men from the frigate USS Surprise, that had been turned over to the Royal Navy after service in the U.S. Navy under reverse Lend-Lease, the former Template:Sclass2- frigate was commissioned as Bazely (DE 2) at 0810 the day of her return (20 August 1945). Lt. Lester H. Watson, USNR, in command

After having embarked 39 passengers, Bazely got underway eight days later for the first leg of her homeward voyage. The next morning, she stood out of The Downs and sailed in Task Group (TG) 21.3, one of ten former British destroyer escorts being returned to the country of origin. She reached the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on the evening of 8 September 1945, and remained there, inactive save for shifting berths and unloading ammunition at Fort Mifflin, through mid-October. On the afternoon of 22 October 1945, Bazely was decommissioned. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 16 November 1945, and the navy yard completed breaking her up by 28 May 1946.

References

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.