Bennett viewed from Halford’s fantail in 1944.![](../../assets/images/ban_473bennett_color02.jpg)
DATA
Name: United States Ship Bennett
Type: Destroyer
Namesake: Warrant Officer Floyd Bennett, USN
Navy Classification: DD 473
Class: DD 445, Fletcher
Builder: Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts
Keel laid: 10 December 1941
Launched: 16 April 1942
Commissioned: 9 February 1943
Disposition: Decommissioned: 18 April 1946. Sold to Brazil: 15 December 1959; renamed Paraiba. Sold for scrap: 1978.
Length Overall: 376' 5½"
Extreme Beam: 39' 8"
Normal Displacement: 2,050 long tons
Draft: Light: 8' 1"; Mean: 13' 5" Deep: 22’8”
Designed Complement: Officers, 34; Enlisted, 295
Designed Shaft Horsepower: 60,000
Designed Speed: 36 knots
Screws: Two
Rudder: One
Stacks: Two
Tactical diameter: 950 yards at 30 knots
Endurance: 4,800 nautical miles at 15 knots.
Bennett’s initial armament was that of a
typical high-bridge Fletcher-class destroyer completed in early 1943, with five 5-inch guns in single mounts, six 40mm guns in three twin mounts (two in elevated gun tubs in way of the after stack and one between the 53 and 54 mounts) and ten 21-inch torpedo tubes in quintuple mounts plus 20mm guns both aft and forward (including one on a sponson forward of the bridge on one on the flying bridge) and depth charges.
Primary: 5 x 5-inch/38 cal. in five single mounts
Long-range anti-aircraft: 6 x 40mm Bofors in five twin mounts
Short-range anti-aircraft: 11 x 20mm Oerlikon in single mounts
Torpedo Tubes: 10 x 21-inch in two quintuple mounts
ASW: 2 racks for 600-lb. charges; 6 “K”-guns for 300-lb. charges
Her electronics were also typical:
Radar: SC (air search) and SG (surface search), Mk 37 (fire control)
Sonar: QC
Primary: 5 x 5-inch/38 cal. in five single mounts
Long-range anti-aircraft: 10 x 40mm Bofors in three twin and two quad mounts
Short-range anti-aircraft: 7 x 20mm Oerlikon in twin mounts
Torpedo Tubes: 10 x 21-inch in two quintuple mounts
ASW: 2 racks for 600-lb. charges; 6 “K”-guns for 300-lb. charges
After she sustained damage from the kamikaze strike on 6 April 1945,
Bennett was modified again to carry
the emergency anti-aircraft refit, with 40mm quad mounts replacing the 40mm twins abreast of the after stack (which necessitated the removal of the forward bank of torpedo tubes) and 20mm twins replacing the singles: two on the fantail and two on each side at the waist:
Primary: 5 x 5-inch/38 cal. in five single mounts
Long-range anti-aircraft: 14 x 40mm Bofors in three twin and two quad mounts
Short-range anti-aircraft: 12 x 20mm Oerlikon in twin mounts
Torpedo Tubes: 5 x 21-inch in two quintuple mounts
ASW: 2 racks for 600-lb. charges; 6 “K”-guns for 300-lb. charges