USS Bennett (DD-473), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the U.S. Navy that was named for the naval aviator Floyd Bennett (1890–1928), who flew towards the North Pole with Richard E. Byrd in 1926, but it is disputed whether they made it there. The Bennett (DD-473) was launched on 16 April 1942 at the Boston Navy Yard, sponsored by Mrs. Floyd Bennett, the widow of Aviation Machinist Bennett. She was commissioned on 9 February 1943 with Commander Edmund B. Taylor in command. History The Bennett arrived at Pearl Harbor on 31 May, and she then spent the next two months patrolling in the Hawaiian Islands. After escorting a convoy to Efate in the New Hebrides, she acted as a plane guard and patrolled out of Efate (27 August through 28 October). Moving to the Solomon Islands 4 November, she patrolled and escorted convoys until 5 April 1944. Included in her service in the Solomon Islands was support of the Cape Torokina, Bougainville landings (on 1 November 1943 on the western side of the island) and Green Island (on 15 February 1944) landings, and bombardments of the Japanese base at Kavieng on New Ireland, (on 18 February 1944) and Rabaul, New Britain (29 February). The Bennett next steamed north to take part in the invasions of Saipan (14 June through 1 July) and of Guam (2nd through 16 August). Returning to the Central Pacific later in the month she supported the invasion of the Palaus (Peleliu) (6 through 25 September), and then she returned to San Francisco for upkeep work, arriving on 25 October 1944. The Bennett returned to Pearl Harbor on 24 December, and she remained in Hawaiian waters for the next month. Then she steamed west to take part in the invasion of Iwo Jima (19 February through 5 March 1945), where she was slightly damaged by a dud bomb (1 March). On 1 April she was a unit of the forces taking part in the invasion of Okinawa. At 08:50, on 7 April, she was hit by an Imperial Japanese Navy kamikaze plane, damaging the forward engine room, and knocking out all of her electrical power. Seven sailors ultimately died from their injuries, and fourteen survived serious injuries. The Bennett was able to make it to the small naval base at Kerama Retto under her own power, and on the following day she departed for Saipan under