HMS Bentley
| History | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Laid down | 26 April 1943 |
| Launched | 17 July 1943 |
| Commissioned | 13 October 1943 |
| Decommissioned | Returned to US Navy on 5 November 1945 |
| Fate | Sold to Mr. John J. Witte of Staten Island, N.Y., on 17 June 1947 for scrapping |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 1,800 tons fully loaded |
| Length | 306 ft (93 m) overall |
| Beam | 36.5 ft (11.1 m) |
| Draught | 11 ft (3.4 m) fully loaded |
| Speed | 24 knots (44 km/h) |
| Endurance | 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Complement | Typically between 170 & 180 |
HMS Bentley was a Buckley class Captains class frigate which served during World War II. 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 in 1759 while commanding a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line HMS Warspite.
Originally destined for the US Navy 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 before the launch. Commanding Officers were Lt Cdr P C Hopkins RN August 1943, Lt Cdr E May RN May 1944 & Lt F L Boyer RN December 1944.
Actions
HMS Bentley served exclusively with the 1st Escort Group taking part in operations in the North Atlantic.
On 19 February 1944 together with HMS Affleck, HMS Bentley picked up 54 survivors from the Panamanian merchant Colin which had been torpedoed and sunk the previous day in the North Atlantic in position 54°10′N 31°35′W / 54.16°N 31.58°W by the Kriegsmarine submarine U-859.
General information
- Pennant (UK): K 465
- Pennant (US): DE 74
- Built by: Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard Inc. (Hingham, Massachusetts, U.S.A.)
External links
- Bentley - Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
- Uboat.net page for HMS Bentley
- Uboat.net page for U-859
- captainclassfrigates.co.uk
References
- The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War by Donald Collingwood. published by Leo Cooper (1998), ISBN 0-85052-615-9.
- The Buckley-Class Destroyer Escorts by Bruce Hampton Franklin, published by Chatham Publishing (1999), ISBN 1-86176-118-X .
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.
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