HMT Bedfordshire (FY141) was an armed naval trawler in the service of the Royal Naval Patrol Service during World War II. Transferred to the East Coast of the United States to assist the United States Navy 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 in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, with the loss of all hands.
Construction
Bedfordshire was built as a commercial fishing trawler by Smith's Dock Company of South Bank, North Yorkshire, England. Launched at Teesside on 17 July 1935, she was completed in August 1935 and turned over to her owners, Bedfordshire Fishing Company of Grimsby, managed by H. Markham Cook Ltd. Bedfordshire was long, with a beam.
The Admiralty 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 United States Navy 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 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. Bedfordshire, commanded by Lieutenant Russell Bransby Davis, RNR, was assigned to the Fifth Naval District, headquartered at Naval Station Norfolk. She operated out of Morehead City, North Carolina, primarily in sectors two and three, where she patrolled the waters surrounding the Outer Banks 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, 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 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.
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. Her fate was confirmed the following year after U-558 was sunk, resulting in the capture of Kapitänleutnant Krech and his ship's diaries.