| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | ASW Trawler |
| Class | [No specific class] |
| Pennant | FY 141 |
| Built by | Smiths Dock Co., Ltd. (South Bank-on-Tees, U.K.) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | |
| Launched | 17 Jul 1935 |
| Commissioned | Oct 1939 |
| Lost | 12 May 1942 |
| Loss position | 34° 10'N, 76° 41'W |
| History | Completed in August 1935. HMT Bedfordshire (Lt. Russell Bransby Davis, RNR) was torpedoed and sunk on 12 May 1942 by the German submarine U-558 off Cape Lookout, North Carolina, USA in position 34º10'N, 76º41'W; There were no survivors. 6 British sailors, 4 of them identified, are buried at the British Cemetery at Ocracoke, Hyde County, North Carolina. See this website (offsite link). Hit by U-boat |
| U-boat Attack | See our U-boat attack entry for the HMS Bedfordshire |
Commands listed for HMS Bedfordshire (FY 141)
Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Ch.Skr. Jacob West Craske, RNR | 2 Oct 1939 | 22 Dec 1939 |
| 2 | Skr. Thomas Fairclough, RNR | 22 Dec 1939 | 18 Jun 1940 |
| 3 | Skr. John Wilkinson Short, RNR | 18 Jun 1940 | 7 Sep 1940 |
| 4 | T/Lt. Gerald Stewart Gaylard, RNVR | 7 Sep 1940 | 26 Feb 1941 |
| 5 | Lt. Russell Bransby Davis, RNR | 26 Feb 1941 | 12 May 1942 (+) |
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Notable events involving Bedfordshire include:
23 Mar 1942
The damaged armed merchant cruiser HMS Queen of Bermuda (A/Capt.(Retd.) A.D. Cochrane, RN) departed Halifax under tow for the Brooklyn Navy Yard at New York. She is to proceed through the Cape Cod Canal.
Escort for the tow is provided by the auxiliary A/S trawlers HMS Bedfordshire (Lt. R.B. Davis, RNR), HMS Coventry City (T/Lt. J.C. Grose, RNR), HMS Kingston Ceylonite (A/Skr.Lt. W.M. Smith, RNR), HMS Lady Elsa (T/Lt. S.G. Phillips, RNVR) and HMS Stella Polaris (Skr. T. Normandale, RNR).
The tow arrived in Long Island sound on 29 March 1942. The trawlers then proceeded to New York arriving later the same day. HMS Queen of Bermuda was towed to the New York Navy Yard on 31 March 1942 as this was not possible earlier due to the weather conditions. (1)
Media links
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Sources
- ADM 53/116477 + ADM 199/2237
ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.
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