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: 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
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: 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