USSBancroft (DD-256) underway circa 1940
History
United States
Name	USSBancroft
Namesake	George Bancroft
Builder	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation,Fore River Shipyard,Quincy
Cost	$1,218,962.89 (hull and machinery)[1]
Laid down	4 November 1918
Launched	21 March 1919
Commissioned	30 June 1919
Decommissioned	24 September 1940
Stricken	8 January 1941
Identification	Hull number DD-256
Fate	Transferred to Canada, 24 September 1940
Canada
Name	HMCSSt. Francis
Namesake	St. Francis River
Commissioned	24 September 1940
Decommissioned	1945
Identification	Pennant number I93
Honours & awards	Atlantic 1941–43
Fate	Declared surplus, 1 April 1945; sank offCape Cod en route to scrapping, July 1945
General characteristics
Class & type	Clemson-classdestroyer
Displacement	1,216long tons (1,236 t)
Length	314 ft 4 in (95.81 m)
Beam	31 ft 8 in (9.65 m)
Draft	9 ft 10 in (3.00 m)
Propulsion	26,500 shp (19,800 kW); Geared turbines, 2 screws
Speed	35knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	4,900 nmi (9,100 km; 5,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	122
Armament	4 ×4"/50 caliber gun 1 ×3"/23 caliber gun 12 × 21 in (533 mm)torpedo tubes

The secondUSSBancroft (DD-256) was aClemson-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy, which briefly served in 1919. Placed inreserve, the ship lay idle before being reactivated forWorld War II. She was transferred to theRoyal Canadian Navy in 1940, where she served asHMCSSt. Francis (I93) in theBattle of the Atlantic escorting convoys. The ship was declared surplus in April 1945, sold forscrap and sank on the way to the breakers after a collision in July.

Named forGeorge Bancroft, an American historian and diplomat, the destroyer waslaunched on 21 March 1919 byBethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation'sFore River Shipyard inQuincy, Massachusetts, sponsored by Miss Mary W. Bancroft, great granddaughter of George Bancroft. The ship wascommissioned on 30 June 1919.^[2]

Bancroft joined theAtlantic Fleet and took part in fleet training activities until 26 November 1919 when the ship went into reserve commission. The destroyer was placed out of commission atPhiladelphia on 11 July 1922.Bancroft was recommissioned 18 December 1939 and served with the Atlantic Squadron on the east coast untildecommissioned atHalifax, Nova Scotia. She was then transferred toGreat Britain in thedestroyer-land bases exchange on 24 September 1940.^[2]

Bancroft was allocated to the Royal Canadian Navy and was taken over by the Canadians on 24 September 1940. Following the Canadian practice of naming destroyers after Canadian rivers (but with deference to the U.S. origin), the destroyer was renamedHMCSSt. Francis after theSt. Francis River forming the border between northernMaine andQuebec andNew Brunswick.^[3]St. Francis left Halifax 15 January 1941 and arrived in theRiver Clyde, Scotland, 26 January. She joined the 4th Escort Group and on 20 May she rescued all the survivors of the steamshipStarcrose which had to be sunk after being torpedoed by asubmarine. At the end of June she escorted a troop convoy to theMiddle East and in July she joined the newly formedNewfoundland Escort Force. Between 1941 and 1943St. Francis made several attacks on enemy submarines while escorting convoys ON 95, SC 85, ON 105, HX 197, and ON 116 withMid-Ocean Escort Force group C-4.St. Francis subsequently escorted convoy ON 121 with Escort Group C-3, convoy SC 99 with Escort Group C-1, and convoy ON 147 with Escort Group C-4.^[4]

After refitting at Halifax,St. Francis joined Escort Group C2 in theWestern Approaches Command in June 1943 but in August was transferred to the 9th Escort Group (RCN), working fromLondonderry Port,Northern Ireland. She was reassigned to theWestern Local Escort Force at Halifax the following month. From early 1944 she was employed on training duties atDigby, Nova Scotia, where on 1 April 1945 she was declared surplus.

On 14 July 1945, the destroyer was under tow of the tugPeter Norman, and bound for Baltimore to be broken up for scrap by the Boston Iron & Metal Co.. After passing through theCape Cod Canal, the vessels encountered a thick fog, which enshroudedBuzzards Bay. Near the entrance to the bay the collierWindward Gulf collided with the old destroyer opening a hole in its hull.Peter Norman tried to ground the destroyer, but it was taking on water too quickly and soon sank on an even keel in 60 feet (18 m) of water approximately two miles (3.2 km) off Acoaxet with no loss of life.^[5]

• "Bancroft II (Destroyer No. 256)".Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.Navy Department,Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved10 January 2020.
• Milner, Marc (1985).North Atlantic Run. Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-450-0.

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• Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts
• Clemson-class destroyers
• Town-class destroyers converted from Clemson-class destroyers
• Town-class destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy
• 1919 ships
• Ships sunk in collisions
• Shipwrecks of the Massachusetts coast
• World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
• Maritime incidents in July 1945

• Articles with short description
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• Use dmy dates from August 2021