USS Bennett (DD-473) Introduction

Bennett viewed from Halford’s fantail in 1944.

Bennett was fitted with the original high, round bridge carried over from the Sims class. Like other 2,100-ton Fletcher-class destroyers completed in 1943, specifications for Bennett, were similar to those published for Strong:

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:

Extreme Beam:

Normal Displacement:

Draft:

Designed Complement:

Designed Shaft Horsepower:

Designed Speed:

Screws:

Rudder:

Stacks:

Tactical diameter:

Endurance:

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:

Long-range anti-aircraft:

Short-range anti-aircraft:

Torpedo Tubes:

ASW:

Her electronics were also typical:

Radar:

Sonar:

In late 1944, Bennett was modified at San Francisco to carry the typical 1943-44 arrangement with which all Fletchers were fitted by March 1945: 20mm singles removed from the sponson and flying bridge, 40mm twin mounts replacing the 20mm on either side forward of the bridge:

Primary:

Long-range anti-aircraft:

Short-range anti-aircraft:

Torpedo Tubes:

ASW:

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:

Long-range anti-aircraft:

Short-range anti-aircraft:

Torpedo Tubes:

ASW:

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