USS Bancroft (DD-598)

The third Bancroft (DD-598) was laid down on 1 May 1941 at Quincy, Mass., by the Bethlehem Ship Building Corp.; launched on 31 December 1941; sponsored by Mrs. Hester Bancroft Barry, great-granddaughter of George Bancroft; and commissioned on 30 April 1942, Lt. Comdr. John L. Melgaard in command.

After fitting out at the Boston Navy Yard through 21 May 1942, the destroyer steamed north for five weeks of shakedown training in Casco Bay off Portland, Maine. The destroyer's crew practiced gunnery and antisubmarine drills, exercising with submarine S-48 (SS-159) at times and also perfecting these skills while searching for U-boats along the Boston-Halifax convoy routes.

On 16 June 1942, Bancroft came across floating debris, a grim reminder of the German submarine offensive against Allied coastal shipping. The wreckage may have come from the British merchantman Port Nicholson (Harold C. Jeffery, Master), or the U.S. passenger-cargo ship Cherokee , (Twiggs E. Brown, Master) both sunk the day before by the German submarine U-87 ( Kapitanleutnant Joachim Berger, commanding) about fifty miles out of Boston. Bancroft returned to Boston on 30 June for post-shakedown overhaul.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Bancroft III (DD-598)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.