HMS Bayntun (K310)

USS "Bayntun" (DE-1) the first of the lend lease destroyer escorts in the United States Navy. She served in the Royal Navy as HMS "Bayntun" (K310). She was named for Henry William Bayntun.

"Bayntun" was laid down on 5 April 1942 at the Boston Navy Yard; 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 to conduct her "working up."

Allocated to the 44th Escort Group, part of the Western Approaches Command, "Bayntun" and her sistership HMS|Bazely|K311 sailed on 2 April 1943 for Chesapeake Bay where they were to load stores for transportation to the United Kingdom. However, "Bayntun" returned to Bermuda to pick up men from her crew who had been quarantined there due to scarlet fever before she sailed for England and ultimately got underway on 15 April for the British Isles, in company with HMS|Berry|K312|3. The two "Captain" class frigates reached Derry, Northern Ireland, on 23 April.

Assigned to Escort Group B 4, operating from Derry, "Bayntun" underwent voyage repairs at Liverpool 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 before she herself proceeded on to Belfast. 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 on 6 January and gave chase. "Bayntun" located the U boat in the fading daylight and carried out three attacks, joined by the Canadian corvette HMCS|Camrose|K154 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 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 during the search for the attacker that had torpedoed and sunk HMS|Asphodel|K56 the previous day. These attacks, made in concert with HMS|Clover|K134, 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 HMS|Hurst Castle|K416, a corvette that had been torpedoed 11 miles north of Tory Island, 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 OS 93 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.

The year 1945 was to prove a successful one for the hunting and killing of U boats. Sailing for Scapa Flow in late January, "Bayntun" teamed with the frigates HMS|Braithwaite|K458|3 and HMS|Loch Eck|K422|3 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", HMS|Loch Dunvegan|K425, 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, Norway, to Scotland on 27 May 1945. Three days later, when the little convoy reached its destination, "Bayntun" proceeded to Bergen, Norway, for her second escort mission. Reaching Scapa Flow on 4 June, she then proceeded to Rosyth, 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 USS|Fury|PG-69|3 that had earlier that day been returned to the Royal Navy. "Bayntun" departed The Downs 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.

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