_at_anchor_in_the_early_1920s.jpg) USSPreble (DD-345) at anchor in the early 1920s. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSPreble (DD-345) |
| Namesake | Edward Preble (1761–1807), American naval officer |
| Operator | United States Navy |
| Builder | Bath Iron Works,Bath, Maine |
| Laid down | 12 April 1919 |
| Launched | 8 March 1920 |
| Sponsored by | Miss Sallie MacIntosh Tucker |
| Commissioned | 19 March 1920 |
| Reclassified |
|
| Decommissioned | 7 December 1945 |
| Stricken | 3 January 1946 |
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Clemson-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 1,700tons (full) |
| Length | 314 ft 4 in (95.81 m) |
| Beam | 30 ft 8 in (9.35 m) |
| Draft | 9 ft 3 in (2.82 m) |
| Propulsion | 26,500 shp (19,761 kW)geared turbines, 2screws |
| Speed | 35knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) |
| Range | 4,900 nmi (9,100 km; 5,600 mi) at 15knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement | 129officers andenlisted men |
| Armament | 4 x4 in (100 mm) guns, 1 x3 in (76 mm) gun, 12 x21 inch (533 mm)torpedo tubes |
The fourthUSSPreble (DD-345/DM-20/AG-99) was aUnited States NavyClemson-classdestroyerin commission from 1920 to 1945. She served inChina, including on theYangtze Patrol, and later saw combat inWorld War II as aminelayer. She was named forCommodoreEdward Preble.
Preble waslaid down by theBath Iron Works atBath, Maine, on 12 April 1919. She waslaunched on 8 March 1920,sponsored by Miss Sallie MacIntosh Tucker, andcommissioned at theBoston Navy Yard inBoston,Massachusetts, on 19 March 1920, Cmdr. Harry A. Baldridge in command.[1]
Aftershakedown inCuban waters,Preble was assigned special duty in Mexican waters, arriving atVera Cruz, Mexico, on 13 June 1920. During the following weeks she made three voyages toGalveston, Texas, to obtain medical supplies includingantiserum to fightbubonic plague, which had developed during the rebellion of theSonora Triumvirate. In August 1920 she returned north to join theUnited States Atlantic Fleet in exercises along theUnited States East Coast and in theCaribbean. In January 1921 the Atlantic Fleet and theUnited States Pacific Fleet joined off thePanama Canal Zone and cruised to the west coast ofSouth America. Separating on 23 February 1921, the Atlantic Fleet steamed back to the Caribbean.[1]
Preble departedNewport, Rhode Island, on 20 June 1921 en route duty in theUnited States Asiatic Fleet, steaming via theSuez Canal with units of DestroyerSquadron 15. She arrived atChefoo, China, on 26 August 1922, and for the next seven years cruised off the coast ofAsia fromManchuria toBurma, inJapanese waters, and amongst thePhilippine Islands,East Indies, andMariana Islands. In September 1923 she assisted victims of the violent1923 Great Kantō earthquake, which shook Japan on 1 September 1923. From 12 June to 2 July 1924 she was atRangoon, Burma, andCalcutta, India, deliveringaviation gasoline andlubricating oil for a flight ofUnited States Army planes making thefirst aerial circumnavigation of the world. In 1927Preble was assigned patrol duty in strife-torn China, taking aboard American and foreign refugees and escorting merchant vessels in theYangtze[2] andHuangpu Rivers. On several occasions Chinese factions fired onPreble from shore, but she suffered no casualties.[1]
Preble departedTsingtao, China, on 12 July 1929 and returned to theUnited States, arriving atSan Diego,California, on 17 August 1929. For several years she was based at San Diego, cruising along theUnited States West Coast, with operations in the waters of Mexico and in the Caribbean. During her stay at San Diego, she was used for on-board location shooting of a 1931RKO-Pathé Pictures film aboutWorld War I destroyers,Suicide Fleet, one of the three primary ships used for the filming of the movie. She was assigned to Rotating Reserve Destroyer Squadron 20 at theMare Island Navy Yard atMare Island inVallejo, California, on 24 September 1932. In May 1934Preble engaged inFleet Problem XV off thePanama Canal and in Cuban waters, before returning to the Pacific. She participated inFleet Problem XVI in May–June 1935 andFleet Problem XVIII in April–May 1937, both in theHawaiian area.[1]
On 19 May 1937Preble was transferred from Destroyers,Battle Force, to duty with Minecraft, Battle Force. Converted to a lightminelayer, she was reclassifiedDM-20, effective 30 June 1937. She departed Pearl Harboron 20 September 1937 fornaval mine training operations on the U.S. West Coast and returned to Hawaii in December 1937. She remained in the Hawaiian area until the outbreak ofWorld War II, engaging in scheduled mining exercises and fleet maneuvers.[1]
On 7 December 1941 the United States entered World War II when the Japanese forces made theirattack on Pearl Harbor, beginning the war'sPacific campaign.Preble was undergoing an overhaul at thePearl Harbor Navy Yard when the Japanese attacked the base and was unable to get underway. Asantiaircraft guns and ammunition were not aboardPreble, a large number of her crew handled ammunition, fought fires, and cared for the wounded aboard thebattleshipUSS Pennsylvania (BB-38). On 30 January 1942,Preble completed her overhaul and joined the patrol operating just off the Pearl Harbor entrance. On 1 April 1942 she departed Pearl Harbor with units of MineDivision 1 to lay a large minefield at theFrench Frigate Shoals in theNorthwestern Hawaiian Islands, 500 nautical miles (930 km; 580 mi) northwest ofOahu. In July 1942 she assisted in laying a defensive minefield around the base atKodiak, Alaska, returning to Pearl Harbor viaSeattle,Washington, for overhaul and patrol operations. On 6 December 1942 she departed Pearl Harbor for theFiji Islands andNoumea onGrande Terre inNew Caledonia, serving on escort duty in theNew Hebrides during January 1943.[1]
On the night of 31 January 1943,Preble and the light minelayersUSS Montgomery (DM-17) andUSS Tracy (DM-19) laid mines in the mouth of the Tenambo River on the coast ofGuadalcanal in theSolomon Islands to prevent the evacuation of Japanese troops from Guadalcanal as theGuadalcanal campaign neared its end. During the next two monthsPreble performed escort duties to the New Hebrides and theRussell Islands.[1]
On the night of 6 May 1943Preble and the light minelayersUSS Gamble (DM-15) andUSS Breese (DM-18) in company with the destroyeerUSS Radford (DD-446) laid mines in Ferguson Passage in the Solomon Islands betweenGizo andWanawana. On the night of 7–8 May 1943 these mines sank a Japanese destroyer and damaged two destroyers which were sunk the next day bytorpedo bombers from Guadalcanal.[1]
On 24 May 1943Preble rescued 85 survivors from thetorpedoedmerchantsteamer SSStanvac Manila. On the night of 28 June 1943Breese,Gamble, andPreble mined the waters nearShortland Island in theShortland Islands to prevent units of the Japanese fleet based there from interfering withlanding operations onRendova Island in theNew Georgia Group, which were to be carried out at dawn on 30 June `943. During July and August 1943Preble again served as an escort vessel. On 9 September 1943 she departed Nouméa forSan Francisco, California.[1]
_stands_by_the_sinking_USS_Perry_(DMS-17)_off_Angaur_on_13_September_1944_(NH_92987).jpg)
After overhaul and duty escorting aconvoy from the U.S. West Coast to Pearl Harbor,Preble reachedMajuro Atoll in theMarshall Islands on 3 February 1944 where she served asantisubmarine screen and minelayer before returning to Pearl Harbor. She then made three escort voyages from Pearl Harbor to Marshall Islands ports. Afterminesweeping training,Preble departedPurvis Bay onFlorida Island in the Solomon Islands on 6 September 1943 with minesweeping units ofRear AdmiralJesse B. Oldendorf'sTask Group 32.5. Arriving offPeleliu in thePalau Islands in the early morning of 12 September 1944, while gunfire support ships began their bombardment of Peleliu,Preble separated to investigate theshoals betweenAngaur and Peleliu, whereAllies suspected that the Japanese had plantedacoustic mines. On 13 September 1944 she helped rescue survivors of the high-speedminesweeperUSS Perry (DMS-17), which sank after striking a mine. As theBattle of Peleliu continued, she continued to perform various screening and minesweeping duties.[1]
Preble arrived atManus Island in theAdmiralty Islands on 1 October 1944, where she joined minesweeping Task Group 77.5. The task group arrived off the entrance toLeyte Gulf on 17 October 1944, wherePreble remained for six days, layingbuoys and acting as mine destruction vessel whileUnited States Army forces landed onLeyte in thePhilippine Islands on 20 October 1944, beginning theBattle of Leyte.Preble departed Leyte Gulf on 23 October 1944 and returned to Manus. After training at Manus, she deployed toSan Pedro Bay, an arm of Leyte Gulf, on 1 January 1945. A month later she departed for much-needed repairs in the United States. After a stop at Pearl Harbor, she arrived at San Francisco on 8 March 1945.[1]
Returning to Pearl Harbor on 8 May 1945,Preble was redesignated as a "miscellaneous auxiliary" (AG-99) on 5 June 1945. She was assigned to duty escortingaircraft carriers engaged in training, acting as an antisubmarine patrol vessel andplane guard during flight operations. She reachedGuam in theMariana Islands with theescort aircraft carrierUSS Vella Gulf (CVE-111) on 20 July 1945 an subsequently escortedVella Gulf toOkinawa in theRyukyu Islands. After returning to Guam, she escorted the escort carrierUSS Sitkoh Bay (CVE-86) toSamar in the Philippine Islands, arriving there on 20 September 1945. Meanwhile,Japan had surrendered to the Allies on 2 September 1945, bringing World War II to an end.[1]
Preble steamed for the United States on 9 October 1945, arriving atNorfolk, Virginia, on 20 November 1945. Shedecommissioned atNorfolk Naval Shipyard inPortsmouth, Virginia, on 7 December 1945. Her name was struck from theNavy List on 3 January 1946 and she was sold for scrap to Luria Brothers ofPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, on 26 October 1946.[1]
Navy Expeditionary Medal[2]
Yangtze Service Medal[2]
World War II Victory Medal
Navy Occupation Service Medal with "Asia" claspPreble received the Navy Expeditionary Medal for her operations at Shanghai from 4 to 31 August 1925.[2]
Preble received the Yangtze Service Medal for operations on the Yangtze Patrol from 20 to 28 October 1926, from 24 February to 30 May 1927, and from 27 June to 4 August 1927.[2]
Pruitt earned eight battle stars during World War II[1] for her operations during theattack on Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941), the capture and defense ofGuadalcanal (31 January–2 February 1943), the consolidation of thesouthern Solomons (6–7 and 12–13 May 1943), theNew Georgia–Rendova–Vangunu occupation (29–30 June and 8–25 August 1943), the occupation ofKwajalein andMajuro Atolls (29 January–8 February 1944), the capture and occupation of the southernPalau Islands (6 September–14 October 1944), theLeyte landings (12–20 October 1944), and theLingayen Gulf landings (4–18 January 1945).[2][3]
Pruitt received the Navy Occupation Service Medal with "Asia" clasp for the period 25 to 28 September 1945.[2]
Preble has appeared a number of times in film and television:
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
