Fletcher Class
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Bennett in August 1945 after modifications, including 40mm quad Bofors amidships.
USS Bennett (DD 473), “a happy ship with a great group of officers,” was laid down at the Boston Navy Yard with twin sister Fullam, 10 December 1941. Bennett was named for the pilot of the first flight over the North Pole. She and Fullam were launched together 16 April 1942; she was commissioned the same day, 9 February 1943, as was John Rodgers, together the 39th ships of the 2,100-ton Fletcher class.

Bennett’s first commanding officer was Cdr. Edmund B. Taylor, USN, former commander of Duncan, and her crew consisted in part of shipmates from Duncan and O’Brien, which had been lost in the South Pacific within a week of one another the previous October.

Visit Bob Ross’ USS Bennett home page, long-time primary source of information from and for shipmates and reunion organizations.

After shakedown, the “Battlin’ B” arrived at Pearl Harbor 31 May 1943 and spent the next months patrolling off Hawaii and then Éfaté before deployment to the Solomon Islands with Destroyer Squadron 45 in November. There in Division 89 with flagship Fullam, Guest, Hudson and Halford, she supported landings at Bougainville and Green Island and bombardments of Kavieng and Rabaul. In May 1944, with Halford, she was fired on by Japanese shore batteries in the Shortland Islands.

Also known among shipmates as the “Dirty B,” Bennett then moved north with her squadron for the invasions of Saipan, Guam and Palau and—following overhaul at Hunters Point—Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Assigned to Radar Picket Station No. 4 there, Bennett joined Cassin Young in standing by Bush and Colhoun when those ships were lost 6 April 1945. Still on station the following day with her ammunition largely depleted, she was crashed by a Japanese suicide plane. The resulting detonation damaged her forward engine room and knocked out all electrical power, killing seven men and wounding fourteen. She received the Navy Unit Commendation for this action.

After repairs at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bennett sailed to Adak, Aleutian Islands in August 1945 and made one run to Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, with weather personnel. As part of Operation “Magic Carpet” returning servicemen to the states, she was in Sitka, Alaska with her division for Navy Day 1945 before returning to San Diego. There she was placed in reserve on 21 December and decommissioned on 18 April 1946.

On 15 December 1959, with Guest, Bennett was sold to Brazil where she entered service as CT (contratorpedeiro) Paraíba. She was sold for scrap in 1978.

In addition to her Navy Unit Commendation, Bennett earned nine service stars during World War II.