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USS BENSON was launched at Bethlehem Ship Building's
Quincy, Massachusetts, yard on November 15, 1939, the leader of one of
the largest destroyer classes ever built in peacetime.
The new destroyer was named for ADM William Shepherd
Benson, whose career spanned more than forty years of active service. I
n 1915, ADM Benson was appointed the nation's first Chief of Naval
Operations and it was the Admiral who coordinated American maritime
operations during World War I. The Navy's choice of a name for the new
class would prove to be unusually appropriate. Like their namesake,
BENSONs would play a prominent role in a "Great War."
Following her commissioning in July 1940, USS BENSON
was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, where she passed much of the year in
training exercises. The efforts would prove valuable in the near future.
By the spring of 1941, war had spread through Europe
and Asia and the Roosevelt Administration was attempting to protect the
Western Hemisphere with a neutrality zone. Dozens of destroyers were
assigned to secure the convoy routes between North America and Iceland,
the eastern "outpost" near the neutrality zone boundary.
BENSON would complete six convoy runs between Newfoundland and Iceland
prior to March 1942.
Few were surprised when the unofficial conflict which
had seen the loss of so many men in the name of neutrality degenerated
into a full-scale shooting war. Experienced anti-submarine forces were
in short supply and BENSON was immediately assigned to convoy merchant
vessels through to the British Isles and, later, to North Africa in
preparation for invasion.
Casco Bay, Maine was used as a convenient rendezvous
for naval forces north of Boston. Scores of vessels crowded the
approaches to the anchorage, and in the predawn hours of October 19,
1942, the inevitable happened. USS MASSACHUSETTS (BB-59), accompanied by
several escorts, was sailing north after extensive firing exercises.
Returning from an arduous convoy assignment, USS BENSON ran afoul of the
battleship's escort, USS TRIPPE (DD-403). Both ships were extensively
damaged. Four crewmen were killed and three others were injured aboard
TRIPPE. Both ships spent weeks in New York for repair. BENSON would
return to convoy duty in support of the invasions of Europe scheduled
for 1943-1944.
After the Allied invasion of North Africa provided a
base in the summer and fall of 1942, Hitler's Europe could be attacked
from any number of directions. Winston Churchill, the British Prime
Minister, believed Italy to be the "soft underbelly," so the
next step called for an assault on the Italian "boot."
DD-421 was assigned to forces in the Mediterranean in
July 1943. The Allies planned to land on Sicily, off the "toe"
of the Italian "boot" in Operation HUSKY. American destroyers
would serve as convoy escorts, fire support vessels for the landing
force, and as anti-air protection for the vulnerable transports. BENSON
nearly met her end off the town of Gela on Sicily's south coast.
German and Italian forces had no intention of
relinquishing Sicily without a fight. German torpedo boats, called E-
Boats, scoured the coast for targets, while entire Luftwaffe squadrons
attacked the landing area in support of some of the strongest tank units
available to the Axis. The attack on the evening of July 11, 1943 began
with a flight of Axis bombers dropping flares astern of the destroyer.
Every ship in the area opened up, and BENSON became the target of
considerable "friendly fire," but the worst was yet to come.
Heinkel HE-111 medium bombers dropped their entire load of bombs along
the destroyer's starboard side, fortunately missing the vessel, but
spraying DD-421 with fragments that wounded LCDR R. J. Woodaman and
eighteen crewmen. Junkers JU-87 STUKA dive-bombers then attempted to
finish off the ship. After an aerial battle that lasted more than an
hour, the destroyers in the area were ordered to lay a smoke screen. The
remaining aircraft fled.
BENSON moved north with Operation AVALANCHE, the
invasion of the mainland at Salerno. Once again, DD-421 faced a
bewildering variety of enemies. Nazi artillerymen blasted away at
invaders with 88-mm. anti-tank guns; Luftwaffe bombers swept across the
anchorage; even submarines and robot bombs were a threat. BENSON came
through it all.
Hitler ordered additional undersea forces into the
Mediterranean to harass Allied shipping and DD-421 was once again
detailed to anti-submarine forces. For the next two months, BENSON
alternated between convoy duty and anti-submarine sweeps. Finally, the
destroyer returned to New York for a much needed refit.
DD-421 returned to the Mediterranean just in time to
support landings in Southern France. Fire support missions required
BENSON's expertise along the coast of France and Italy throughout the
summer and fall of 1944. A final return to the United States for an
overhaul ended with one more convoy assignment to the British Isles.
By the spring of 1945, Axis forces had been pushed out
of France and veteran destroyers were needed in the Pacific. BENSON
arrived in time to screen carrier forces making final attacks on Wake
Island. She then resumed her old duty, convoy work, this time between
Ulithi, Okinawa, and the Philippines. The destroyer would serve with
DESRON 50 at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, September 2, 1945.
Following the end of hostilities, BENSON was ordered
to the Charleston Navy Yard for deactivation. The destroyer remained out
of commission and in reserve until February 26, 1954, when she was
transferred to the Nationalist Chinese Navy. She served as LO YANG with
Taiwanese forces for the next twenty-one years, ultimately being
scrapped in 1975.
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