Ships
- USS Benham (DD-796) Captain from 20 December 1943
Commander E. V. Dennet, Erle Van Emburgh Dennett, was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, on 13 June 1908. He was appointed to the Naval Academy from New Jersey, entered Annapolis in 1925, and graduated in 1929. He stayed in the Navy for a full career and later served in the rank of captain.
Before the war his sea duty ran through battleships, submarines, and cruisers. In 1936 he was ordered to the Navy Department in Washington for communications duty, and in 1938 he returned to destroyers. When the United States entered the Second World War he was executive officer of Macdonough (DD-351). He afterward commanded that destroyer until 18 September 1943. He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 30 June 1942 and to temporary commander on 1 October 1942.
He brought the new destroyer Benham (DD-796) into commission. Bethlehem Steel had built the Fletcher-class ship at Staten Island, New York, and launched her on 30 August 1943. On 20 December 1943 she was commissioned with Commander Dennet in command. She fitted out at New York and began her shakedown in Long Island Sound.
In January 1944 Benham went to Kingston for about four weeks of shore-bombardment, antisubmarine, and carrier-escort exercises, then came back to New York on 13 February. After a shipyard period she reached Norfolk on 28 February, joined the destroyer tender Piedmont (AD-17), and escorted the tender through the Panama Canal. Benham arrived at Pearl Harbor on 27 March 1944 and worked up for the Pacific with carrier-screen drills, antiaircraft gunnery, and antisubmarine practice.
On the night of 24 April 1944, during a screening exercise, Benham collided with Uhlmann (DD-687) and suffered heavy damage to her bow. Repairs at Pearl Harbor stretched on while the fleet prepared for the move into the Marianas. Dennet left the ship on 12 May 1944. Benham returned to duty on 14 May.
He closed the war as executive officer of the heavy cruiser San Francisco (CA-38). From 1946 to 1948 he served on Guam, and he then became inspector-instructor for the Naval Reserve at Bridgeport, Connecticut. In September 1957 he reported to the Fifth Naval District as president of a general court-martial board. In April 1958 he took on added duty as special programs officer for the Military Sea Transportation Service, advanced bases, and harbor defense. He was due to retire on 30 June 1959, thirty years after graduation from the Academy. He died on 18 August 1962.
His decorations included the Bronze Star Medal with Combat V and the Commendation Ribbon. He also received the American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal, and the United Nations Service Medal.