HMT ''Bedfordshire'' (FY141) was an armed

naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built ...

in the service of the

Royal Naval Patrol Service The Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS) was a branch of the Royal Navy active during both the First and Second World Wars. The RNPS operated many small auxiliary vessels such as naval trawlers for anti-submarine and minesweeping operations to prot ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Transferred to the East Coast of the United States to assist the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

with anti-submarine patrols, she was staffed by a British and Canadian crew. ''Bedfordshire'' was sunk by the on 11 May 1942 off the coast of

Ocracoke Island Ocracoke
, from the North Carolina Collection website at the

in the

Outer Banks The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, with the loss of all hands.

Construction

''Bedfordshire'' was built as a commercial

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets th ...

Smith's Dock Company Smith's Dock Company, Limited, often referred to simply as Smith's Dock, was a British shipbuilding company. History The company was originally established by Thomas Smith who bought William Rowe's shipyard at St. Peter's in Newcastle upon Tyn ...

of South Bank, North Yorkshire, England. Launched at

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

on 17 July 1935, she was completed in August 1935 and turned over to her owners, Bedfordshire Fishing Company of

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of L ...

, managed by H. Markham Cook Ltd. ''Bedfordshire'' was long, with a beam. The

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

acquired ''Bedfordshire'' for anti-submarine duty in August 1939. Converted for service as a naval trawler, she was armed with a 4-inch gun, machine guns, and depth charges.

Service in British waters

Following completion of her conversion in December 1940, HMT ''Bedfordshire'' undertook anti-submarine patrols and escort duty off the southwest coast of England and in the Bristol Channel. She served in this capacity throughout 1941 and early 1942.

Situation in American waters deteriorates

After Germany declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941, German U-boats quickly became a deadly threat on the East Coast. The

was ill-prepared to defend against submarine warfare, and U-boats found it easy to pick off commercial shipping vessels, which travelled unescorted. The onslaught began with

Operation Drumbeat The "Second Happy Time" (; officially Operation Paukenschlag ("Operation Drumbeat"), and also known among German submarine commanders as the "American Shooting Season") was a phase in the Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis submarines att ...

when 35 Allied ships were sunk by U-boats off the American coast in January 1942. In March 1942, the Royal Navy sent 24 converted trawlers, including ''Bedfordshire'', to assist the United States Navy with anti-submarine patrols along the East Coast.Conn, p. 96. ''Bedfordshire'', commanded by Lieutenant Russell Bransby Davis,

RNR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

, was assigned to the

Fifth Naval District The naval district was a U.S. Navy military and administrative command ashore. Apart from Naval District Washington, the Districts were disestablished and renamed Navy Regions about 1999, and are now under Commander, Naval Installations Command ...

, headquartered at

Naval Station Norfolk Naval Station Norfolk is a United States Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, that is the headquarters and home port of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Forces Command. The installation occupies about of waterfront space and of pier and wharf space of the Hampt ...

. She operated out of

Morehead City, North Carolina Morehead City is a port town in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007. It forms part of the Crystal Coast. Hist ...

, primarily in sectors two and three, where she patrolled the waters surrounding the

while U-boats continued to terrorize local shipping.

Service on the American coast

On 16 April 1942, ''Bedfordshire'' along with HMT ''Lady Elsa'', , and conducted patrols in sector two. ''Bedfordshire'' and ''Tourmaline'' assisted in the search for survivors of a sunken tanker in sector two on 17 April. On 18 April, ''Bedfordshire'' searched for survivors of , the first U-boat sunk by the US Navy off the East Coast. For the next several days ''Bedfordshire'' stood guard duty over a concerted attempt to salvage ''U-85''. The effort was ultimately unsuccessful and the attempt was abandoned on 22 April. The remains of ''U-85'' lie at a depth of less than in the waters off Bodie Island Lighthouse; its Enigma machine was recovered in 2001. The remainder of April was spent patrolling in the vicinity of Currituck Island,

Hatteras Island Hatteras Island (historically Croatoan Island) is a barrier island located off the North Carolina coast. Dividing the Atlantic Ocean and the Pamlico Sound, it runs parallel to the coast, forming a bend at Cape Hatteras. It is part of North Carol ...

, and Lookout Shoals. On 1 May, a plane reported having spotted a lifeboat some east of Cape Lookout, and ''Bedfordshire'' was sent on a search and rescue mission. She was back on patrol in sector three from 7–9 May, after which she returned to Morehead City. At noon on 10 May ''Bedfordshire'' and HMT ''St Zeno'' departed Morehead City to escort a convoy to Hatteras, arriving safely near midnight.

Sinking

On 10 May 1942, ''Bedfordshire'' and HMT ''St Loman'' were dispatched from Morehead City to search for a U-boat believed to be in the vicinity of Ocracoke Island. The ships were spotted by , commanded by ''

Kapitänleutnant ''Kapitänleutnant'', short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( en, captain lieutenant) is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the German Bundeswehr. The rank is rated OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to Hauptmann in the Heer an ...

'' Günther Krech. Later in the evening Krech, believing his sub had been detected, fired on ''St Loman'', which spotted the torpedoes and evaded them. The search continued throughout the night. At 05:40 on 11 May 1942, ''U-558'' fired a torpedo at ''Bedfordshire'', missed, and fired a second, which scored a direct hit and sank her immediately. All 37 men aboard were killed. A 38th crewman, a young stoker named Sam Nutt, had been detained at Morehead City by local police and narrowly missed boarding the ship for her last patrol. HMT Bedfordshire

On 14 May, the bodies of two seamen were discovered by a Coast Guardsman on the shores of Ocracoke Island. Their British uniforms offered the first indication that ''Bedfordshire'' may have met her end, and the U-boat menace was presumed to be responsible.Hickam, p. 207. Her fate was confirmed the following year after ''U-558'' was sunk, resulting in the capture of Kapitänleutnant Krech and his ship's diaries.

Burials

The bodies found on 14 May were identified as belonging to Sub-Lieutenant Thomas Cunningham and Ordinary Telegraphist Stanley Craig of the ''Bedfordshire''. They were buried in a small plot next to a cemetery in Ocracoke Village. The Royal Navy flag draped over Cunningham's coffin was one of several that he himself had given to a local man less than a month earlier for the funeral ceremonies of British seamen.Runyan, p. 163. Shortly thereafter, two additional bodies from the ship washed ashore on Ocracoke. Unidentified, they were also buried in what became known as the Ocracoke Island British Cemetery. On nearby

, the body of a fifth British seaman, unidentifiable but presumed to be from ''Bedfordshire'', washed ashore on 21 May. The month prior, the body of another British sailor from the sunken merchant ship ''San Delfino'' had been buried on Hatteras; the ''Bedfordshire'' sailor's body was interred in an adjacent plot, resulting in a second British Cemetery, formally known as Cape Hatteras Coast Guard Burial Ground. In late May or early June, a sixth body, belonging to Seaman Alfred Dryden, washed ashore at Swan Quarter, North Carolina. It was buried in Oak Grove Baptist Cemetery at Creeds, Virginia, with three of the dead from HMT ''Kingston Ceylonite'', sunk by a mine on 15 June 1942, whose bodies washed ashore nearby.

Commemoration

The British Cemeteries on Ocracoke and Hatteras were leased in 1976 in perpetuity to the British government for as long as the interred bodies remain there. Formal custody is handled by the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...

, which provides the protocol headstones. Regular maintenance is handled by the US Coast Guard and local residents as a gesture of gratitude and respect to the fallen men and an act of comity to the British government. A Royal Navy flag flies over the cemeteries, and a ceremony is held there each year on 11 May to honour the men of the ''Bedfordshire''. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission also provided headstones for the four British servicemen interred in Creeds, Virginia, including Alfred Dryden of the ''Bedfordshire''. The crewmen whose bodies were not recovered are honoured by name on the Royal Naval Patrol Service Memorial at Lowestoft. The wreck of the ''Bedfordshire'' was located in 1980 at at a depth of . The site is considered a protected

war grave A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

under the

Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

. In 2008 and 2009 the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

led an expedition to document the condition of ships sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic. At the request of the British government, the ''Bedfordshire'' wreck site was surveyed by the expedition in 2009. On 31 July 2015, the ''Bedfordshire'' was listed in the US government's

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

Film about the loss of HMT ''Bedfordshire''
including interviews
"The sinking of HMS Bedfordshire" at bbc.co"Fire on the Sea: The Sinking of Merchant Ships off the Atlantic in 1942" in ''Carolina Currents'' (p. 32)

"HMT Bedfordshire" at wrecksite.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedfordshire Ships built on the River Tees World War II naval ships of the United Kingdom Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast 1935 ships Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II Anti-submarine trawlers of the Royal Navy Maritime incidents in May 1942 Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Carteret County, North Carolina World War II on the National Register of Historic Places Ships lost with all hands