Allied Warships

USS Benham (ii) (DD 796)

Destroyer of the Fletcher class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Fletcher
Pennant	DD 796
Built by	Bethlehem Steel Corp. (Staten Island, New York, U.S.A.)
Ordered	14 Jun 1942
Laid down	3 Apr 1943
Launched	30 Aug 1943
Commissioned	20 Dec 1943
End service	15 Dec 1960
History	Decommissioned 18 October 1946. Recommissioned 24 March 1951. Decommissioned 15 December 1960. Transferred to Peru 15 December 1960 being renamed Villar. Villar was stricken and broken up for scrap in 1980.

Commands listed for USS Benham (ii) (DD 796)

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	Commander	From	To
1	T/Cdr. Erle van Emburgh Dennet, USN	20 Dec 1943	12 May 1944
2	Lt.Cdr. Frederic Seward Keeler, USN	12 May 1944	3 Jun 1945
3	William Lindsay Poindexter, USN	3 Jun 1945	1 Sep 1946

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Notable events involving Benham (ii) include:

8 Oct 1944
USS Iowa (Capt. A.R. McCann, USN) fuelled the light cruiser USS San Diego (Capt. W.E.A. Mulen, USN) and two destroyers, USS Yarnall (Cdr. J.H. Hogg, USN) and USS Benham (Cdr. F.S. Keeler, USN).

Thereafter Iowa herself fuelled from the USS Neches (Cdr. H.G. Hansen, USN).

29 Jul 1945
USS Iowa (Capt. C. Wellborn, Jr., USN) topped off four of the destroyers of the Task Group, USS McDermut (Cdr. C.B. Jennings, USN), USS Monssen (Lt.Cdr. E.G. Sanderson, USN), USS Stockham (Cdr. D.L. Moody, USN) and USS Benham (Lt.Cdr. W.L. Poindexter, USN), with fuel.

10 Aug 1945
USS Iowa (Capt. C. Wellborn, Jr., USN) topped off three of the destroyers of the Task Group, USS Benham (Lt.Cdr. W.L. Poindexter, USN), USS Twining (Cdr. F.V. List, USN) and USS Melvin (Cdr. B.K. Atkins, USN), with fuel.

11 Aug 1945
USS Iowa (Capt. C. Wellborn, Jr., USN) topped off four of the destroyers of the Task Group, USS Benham (Lt.Cdr. W.L. Poindexter, USN), USS Cogswell (Cdr. R.N. Perley, Jr., USN), USS Uhlmann (Cdr. S.C. Small, USN) and USS Stockham (Cdr. D.L. Moody, USN), with fuel. Following the fuelling of these destroyers Iowa herself was fuelled by the oiler USS Neches (Cdr. H.G. Hansen, USN).

12 Aug 1945
USS Iowa (Capt. C. Wellborn, Jr., USN) topped off three of the destroyers of the Task Group, USS Twining (Cdr. F.V. List, USN), USS Cushing (Lt.Cdr. W.D. Adams, USN) and USS Benham (Lt.Cdr. W.L. Poindexter, USN), with fuel.

14 Aug 1945
USS Iowa (Capt. C. Wellborn, Jr., USN) topped off two of the destroyers of the Task Group, USS Benham (Lt.Cdr. W.L. Poindexter, USN) and USS Cushing (Lt.Cdr. W.D. Adams, USN), with fuel. Following the fuelling of these destroyers Iowa herself was fuelled by the oiler USS Escambia (Lt.Cdr. R. Goorgian, USNR).