Lieutenant Denys Paul BENT RNR
HMS Eaglet

Date of birth: 1st October 1892
Date of death: 13th August 1942

Killed in action aged 49
Commemorated on the Liverpool Naval Memorial Panel 1 Column 2
He was born at Colne St Denis in Gloucestershire on the 1st of October 1892 the son of the Reverend Robert Paul Bent, Rector of Colne St Denis, and Edith Annie (nee Beale) of The Rectory, Colne St Denis. He was christened by his father at St James' Church, Colne St Dennis on the 5th of November 1892.

He was educated at Osborne College and at the King's School Canterbury from January 1907 to April 1908.

He was apprenticed in the Merchant Navy at Aberdeen to George Milne & Co on the 8th of June 1910 and was awarded a Certificate of Competency by the Board of Trade (No. 042940) as Second Mate of a foreign going ship on the 16th of January 1914. On the last day of the Great War, the 11th of November 1918, he landed at Glasgow from Port Said on board the SS Castalia. On the 13th of March 1919 he was commissioned as a Sea Cadet Lieutenant in the Wimbledon Sea Cadets and on the 16th of December 1919 he qualified as a Master of a foreign going ship.

He became a Freemason and was initiated into the Herschel Lodge on the 17th of February 1920. He was married at Kensington in 1923 to Eileen Violet (nee Edwards) and they had three children, one of which was Robert Paul, born on the 19th of September 1924. By 1937 he was serving as a 3rd Officer in the Merchant Marine and was working for the Counties Ship Management Company of Liverpool.

He was commissioned as a Temporary Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve on the 15th of May 1942 and was posted to HMS Eaglet, a training centre for the Royal Naval Reserve serving Merseyside and the north west of England. He was billeted at the Royal Liver Buildings, Liverpool.

In July 1942 the Admiralty began planning for a new convoy to Malta under the code name of Operation Pedestal. It was to consist of fourteen merchant ships, one of which was to be the American oil tanker SS Ohio which was to carry much needed aviation fuel. All of the other freighters would also carry aviation fuel on board in drums in case the SS Ohio was sunk. In defence of this convoy were two battleships, three aircraft carriers, seven submarines, seven cruisers and thirty-two destroyers forming the largest escort for a single convoy to that point in the war.

On the 31st of July 1942, Denys Bent and Lieutenant John Stewart Montgomerie Withers RN boarded the 12,843 ton cargo ship SS Waimarama, under the command of Master Robert Strasenburgh, at Avonmouth to act as Naval Liaison Officers to the ship, bringing with them four naval ratings who specialised in signals. The convoy set sail on the 3rd of August and passed though the Straits of Gibraltar on the night of the 9th/10th of August. The following day the Axis attacks began with the sinking of the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, which was hit by four torpedoes fired by the U Boat U-73 at 1.15pm. At noon on the 12th of August, a major attack developed involving waves of Italian and German bombers and torpedo aircraft. In spite of the many aircraft which attacked the convoy no ships were lost, while their accurate anti-aircraft fire caused a number of losses among the attackers. During the afternoon, evening and into the night, further air and submarine attacks developed with the merchantmen SS Glenorchy, SS Deucalion, SS Clan Ferguson, and SS Empire Hope were all lost. At 9.15am on the morning of the 13th of August 1942 the SS Waimarama was sailing with three other merchantmen and an escort when a new attack came. Sixteen Ju 87 Stukas, escorted by eight Me Bf 109s and eight Me Bf 110s along with ten Ju88s attacked the convoy in waves. The Ju 88s managed a near miss on the SS Ohio but scored a direct hit on SS Waimarama which was hit by four bombs and immediately disintegrated. As the drums of fuel on her deck exploded debris showered onto the nearby SS Melbourne Star causing some of its crew to abandon ship as they thought that they had also been hit. Eighty three officers and men from the passengers and crew were killed in the explosion which sent a column of smoke thousands of feet into the air. Forty-four survivors were picked up by the destroyer HMS Ledbury. Denys Bent was not among them.

His wife received the following telegram: - "From Admiralty. Deeply regret to inform you that your husband Lieutenant D.P. Bent RNR has been reported as missing on active service."

The Naval Liaison officers and signalmen who served on board SS Waimrama were: -
Lieutenant Denys Paul Bent RNR (Killed in action)
Lieutenant John Stewart Montgomerie Withers RN (Killed in action)
Telegraphist W.C. Orr (Survived)
Signalman Frederick Hillier Jones Hufton (Killed in action)
Signalman Dennis Charles James Fensome (Killed in action)
Yeoman of Signals Walter George Victor Hawthorn (Killed in action)

Of the fourteen merchantmen which had set out from England for the operation, five managed to reach Malta. Among their number was the SS Ohio, whose cargo of aviation fuel is said to have tipped the balance of air power in the Mediterranean.

He is not currently commemorated on the war memorial at the King's School Canterbury.

 

Back