Bentinck (DE-52)
(BDE-52: dp. 1,300; l. 306’; b. 36’9”; dr. 10’9”; a. 24 k.; cpl. 200; a. 3 3”, 2 40mm., 8 20mm., 4 dcp., 1 dcp. (hh.), 2 dct.; cl. Buckley)
John Albert Bentinck (1737-1775) entered the Royal Navy at a young age. In command of the frigate Niger in 1760, he defeated the French 74 gun ship of the line Diadem. Bentinck is credited with a number of “nautical improvements,” including the chain pump for ships.
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Although she was originally slated to be transferred to the United Kingdom under lend lease and was named Bentinck by the Royal Navy, BDE-13 was reallocated to the United States Navy early in January 1943, redesignated DE-13, and renamed Brennan (q.v.).
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Bull (DE-52) was laid on 29 June 1942 at Quincy, Mass., by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; reallocated to the United Kingdom under lend lease; launched on 3 February 1943; accepted by the British and commissioned on 19 May 1943 as HMS Bentinck (K.314).
Bentinck earned battle honors in the Atlantic (1943-1945) and in the Arctic (1945). During her career, she took part in the destruction of three German U boats: U-1172 on 26 January 1945 in company with Aylmer (K.463), Calder (K.349), and Manners (K.568); U-774 on 8 April 1945, in company with Calder; and U-636 on 21 April 1945, in company with Bazely (K.311), and Drury (K.316).
Bentinck departed Plymouth on 5 December 1945 and reached New York on 22 December. Decommissioned by the British and simultaneously accepted by the U.S. Navy on 5 January 1946, the destroyer escort was declared “not essential to the defense of the United States” and her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 February 1946. Sold to the Northern Metals Co., of Philadelphia, Pa., in June 1946, she was subsequently scrapped.
Robert J. Cressman
8 February 2006
