HMS/HMT Bedfordshire was built in 1935.  She was a 443 ton trawler taken over by the Admiralty in 1939 and fitted with a four inch gun.

On the 11th May 1942, HMT Bedfordshire and HMT St. Loman were sent out from their base at Morehead City in North Carolina to look for a German U-boat that was suspected to be operating near Ocracoke Island.  Unfortunately for the Bedfordshire, the two ships had already been spotted by the U-558, commanded by twenty-seven year old Gunther Krech.  That evening, Krech though they'd been detected by one of the trawlers and launched an attack on the St. Loman, but it's torpedoes were spotted and the St. Loman managed to avoid them.  At 0540 on the 12th of May, the U-558 fired on the HMT Bedfordshire.  A direct hit sent it to the bottom, with the loss of everyone on board.