USS Bayntun (DE-1) the first of the lend lease destroyer escort

Destroyer escort

A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...

s in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. She served in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 as HMS Bayntun (K310). She was named for Henry William Bayntun.

History

Bayntun was laid down on 5 April 1942 at the Boston Navy Yard

Boston Navy Yard

The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed as an active naval installation on July 1, 1974, and the property was...

; launched on 27 June 1942; transferred to the Royal Navy under lend lease on 20 January 1943. She was given the pendant number K310 and departed Boston the following month, bound via New York, for Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 to conduct her "working up."
Allocated to the 44th Escort Group, part of the Western Approaches Command, Bayntun and her sistership sailed on 2 April 1943 for Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

 where they were to load stores for transportation to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. However, Bayntun returned to Bermuda to pick up men from her crew who had been quarantined there due to scarlet fever

Scarlet fever

Scarlet fever is a disease caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Once a major cause of death, it is now effectively treated with antibiotics...

 before she sailed for England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and ultimately got underway on 15 April for the British Isles, in company with . The two "Captain" class frigates reached Derry

Derry

Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, on 23 April.

Assigned to Escort Group B 4, operating from Derry, Bayntun underwent voyage repairs at Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 in May before she sailed for Bermuda. Next shifting northward from Bermuda, Bayntun joined the screen for convoy HX 250 and sailed from New York on 30 July. The warship escorted two merchantmen, SS Biscaya and SS Bruarfoss, detached from the convoy, to Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

 before she herself proceeded on to Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

. In September, an accident in Bayntun's forward motor room caused extensive damage and flooding, and the resultant repairs kept her in the yard at Belfast until 6 December.

Leaving Belfast, she rejoined Escort Group B 4 at Derry. Five days into 1944, the frigate departed her home base as part of the screen for convoy OS 64. The escorts detected the presence of an enemy submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 on 6 January and gave chase. Bayntun located the U boat in the fading daylight and carried out three attacks, joined by the Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...

  which made five. Bayntun recovered wreckage coated with light diesel oil and pronounced the attack successful. She was indeed correct for U-757 had perished, victim of the joint attack launched by Bayntun and Camrose.

Reaching Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 on 17 January, Bayntun departed "The Rock" on the 22nd and arrived back at her home base on 2 February. Bayntun remained in port for voyage repairs and enjoyed a brief respite from convoy duty before heading back to Gibraltar on 13 February. During this voyage, she again made contact with a U-boat, attacking on 10 March in the Bay of Biscay

Bay of Biscay

The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...

 during the search for the attacker that had torpedoed and sunk the previous day. These attacks, made in concert with , failed; and Bayntun returned to Derry on 13 March.

Over the next few months, Bayntun remained engaged in the prosaic but important duties of a convoy escort. In August, she was involved in an operation coded "CX" designed to counter inshore operations by U-boats. On 1 September, Bayntun took part in the hunt for the killer of , a corvette that had been torpedoed 11 miles (17.7 km) north of Tory Island

Tory Island

Toraigh is an inhabited island 14.5 km off the northwest coast of County Donegal, Ireland. It is also known in Irish as Oileán Thoraigh, Oileán Thoraí or Oileán Thúr Rí.-Language:The main spoken language on the island is Irish, but English is also understood...

, but the search yielded no result.

With the disbandment of Escort Group B 4, Bayntun was assigned to Escort Group 10, retaining Derry as her base of operations. On 27 October, she was detailed to shepherd , a straggler from Convoy KMS 67 from U boats known to be in the vicinity and carried out attacks against a suspected U-boat. Again no wreckage appeared to suggest a successful attack. On 21 November 1944, Bayntun, on channel patrol, recovered the bodies of four sailors who had been lost with the trawler, HMS Transvaal that had gone down earlier in the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

.

The year 1945 was to prove a successful one for the hunting and killing of U boats. Sailing for Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow

right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...

 in late January, Bayntun teamed with the frigates and on 3 February and sank U-1279. During her next voyage, commencing at Scapa Flow on 9 February, Bayntun detected a U-boat on the 14th, called for help from Braithwaite, , and Loch Eck, and together they sank U-989, rescuing six survivors. Three days later, Bayntun and Loch Eck pooled their resources to destroy U-1278.

Joining the Portsmouth patrol on 11 March, Bayntun made contact with a U-boat 10 days later, but the ensuing attack was not successful. In company with Loch Eck on 25 March, Bayntun investigated a reported U-boat sinking and, on 26 April, took part in what she thought to be a successful search for a U-boat. However, records of lost German submarines do not list any losses for that date.

After hostilities ended in Europe, Bayntun formed part of the escort for eight U-boats which sailed from Stavanger

Stavanger

Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, to Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 on 27 May 1945. Three days later, when the little convoy reached its destination, Bayntun proceeded to Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

, Norway, for her second escort mission. Reaching Scapa Flow on 4 June, she then proceeded to Rosyth

Rosyth

Rosyth is a town located on the Firth of Forth, three miles south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the town has a population of 12,790....

, Scotland, where she became an escort for the "Apostle" convoy that sailed the following day.

Reduced to reserve, Category "B", on 14 June 1945, Bayntun was returned to US Navy custody at Harwich, England, on 22 August 1945.

Commissioned the same day, Lt. Comdr. John E. Shinners, USNR, in command, Bayntun (DE-1) had as her commissioning crew the former ship's company of the reverse lend lease frigate that had earlier that day been returned to the Royal Navy. Bayntun departed The Downs

The Downs

The Downs are a roadstead or area of sea in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast, between the North and the South Foreland in southern England. In 1639 the Battle of the Downs took place here, when the Dutch navy destroyed a Spanish fleet which had sought refuge...

 on 29 August, sailing for the United States with Task Group (TG) 21.3. She reached the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 8 September 1945. Bayntun was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 19 October 1945, and her disposal was ordered on 30 October. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 November, and she was sold to Thomas Harris Barker of New Jersey on 17 June 1947 for scrapping.