 USSPreston while underway in the late 1930s | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Preston |
| Namesake | Samuel W. Preston |
| Builder | Mare Island Navy Yard |
| Laid down | 27 October 1934 |
| Launched | 22 April 1936 |
| Commissioned | 27 October 1936 |
| Fate | Sunk by the Japanese cruiserNagara, 14 November 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Mahan-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 1,500 tons |
| Length | 341 ft 4 in (104.0 m) |
| Beam | 35 ft 0 in (10.7 m) |
| Draft | 9 ft 10 in (3.0 m) |
| Speed | 37knots (69 km/h; 43 mph) |
| Complement | 158 |
| Armament |
|
USSPreston (DD–379) was aMahan-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy before and duringWorld War II. She was the fifth Navy ship named forLieutenantSamuel W. Preston (1840–1865). She was sunk at the SecondNaval Battle of Guadalcanal, 14 November 1942.
Preston waslaid down on 27 October 1934 at theMare Island Navy Yard inVallejo,California. She waslaunched on 22 April 1936,sponsored by Mrs. Edward H. Campbell, andcommissioned on 27 October 1936.
Following shakedown,Preston operated briefly under theChief of Naval Operations, then joinedBattle Force,U.S. Fleet. Initially assigned to Destroyer Squadron 2 (DesRon 2), then shifted to DesRon 5, she conducted peacetime training exercises in thePacific until 7 December 1941. Patrol and coastal escort duties along thewest coast keptPreston in the eastern Pacific until 1 June 1942. Then setting a westward course she headed forHawaii in the screen of theaircraft carrierSaratoga. Arriving on 6 June, her group, TG 11.1, departed again the next day to rendezvous withTask Force 17 (TF17) and deliver planes, pilots, and material to the carriersEnterprise andHornet as that force refueled and rested after theBattle of Midway.[1]
On 13 June,Preston returned toPearl Harbor and for the next four months conducted type exercises and performed patrol and escort work in the Hawaiian area. She joined TF 16 on 4 October, and on 15 October sailed for theSolomon Islands. On 24 October, TF 16 rendezvoused with TF 17, formed TF 61, and continued on. Two days later,Preston, in the carrier screen, introduced her guns to the enemy at theBattle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Downing two planes, she emerged unscathed from her first engagement and retired toNouméa.[1]
Rearmed, she headed back to the Solomons for her second and last fight.
On the evening of 14 November,Preston, with TF 64, sailed along the western end ofGuadalcanal to intercept anotherJapanese run down the "Slot" to bombardHenderson Field and land reinforcements. Swinging aroundSavo Island, the force, twobattleships preceded by four destroyers, entered the channel between Savo andCape Esperance. At 23:00, the battleshipWashington picked up theJapanese cruiser Sendai on her radar, and, at 23:17, theThird Battle of Savo Island began.
Sendai, accompanied by thedestroyerShikinami, had been following the Americans, but 16-inch (406 mm) projectiles drove them off. Soon after, however, the battle was rejoined. The Japanese force had been dispersed and within minutes of the battleship/cruiser encounter, enemy destroyers, edging along the southern shore of Savo, entered the fray.USS Benham andPreston followed.Gwin, which had been firing illumination shells toward the earlier gunfire exchange, came into the action in time to sight thecruiserNagara and four destroyers closing in. Farther out, heavier Japanese ships were preparing to join in. The concentrated American destroyers were now central targets and, approximately eight minutes after the enemy was engaged,USS Walke was hit.
Soon after this,Preston opened fire on an illuminated enemy target and was fired on in return by the light cruiserNagara, probably using the 5-inch gun flashes to target her.Preston was straddled by the first salvo and hit by the second whilst preparing her torpedoes for launching. The salvo fromNagara had put both firerooms out and toppled the afterstack.
Preston's fires made an easier target and shells came in from both port and starboard; there is the possibility that the shells coming in from port were from a friendly ship, most likelyWashington, which was off to port ofPreston had a brokengun mount causing one of her guns to hang low.[2]
As the crippledPreston coasted to a halt,Nagara's next salvos landed on the destroyer's aft section, likely hitting the after 5-inch magazine, with catastrophic results. Survivor testimony from Robert B Reed (on damage control duties during the battle) describes the ship's torpedoes as having been smashed to bits by the explosion, with "loose and ruptured torpedo warheads rolling around under the mounts" and "with the exposed TNT on fire". As he recovered from the explosion, Reed became aware that "Canned goods, potatoes, cabbage and all manner of food provisions were falling straight down out of the sky, having been propelled upward by the explosion of the after magazines". The fires continued to spread.
At 23:36,Preston was ordered abandoned. Minutes later, she rolled on her port side. She floated for another ten minutes, bow in the air; then sank, taking 116 of her crew with her. Prior to the battle, Her skipper, Max C. Stormes wisely had all of the tetryl boosters forPreston's depth charges thrown overboard to prevent detonation should the ship go down. This decision no doubt saved many lives. Sadly, as the survivors drew clear of their sinking ship, the battleshipUSS South Dakota then appeared out of the darkness and steamed through the men in the water. A liferaft was apparently thrown by theSouth Dakota's crew, but Captain Stormes was not seen again after the battleship's passage.
The battle continued:Gwin,Walke, andBenham were all heavily damaged, withWalke soon followingPreston to the Savo Sound graveyard. The two remaining destroyers were ordered to retire, butBenham would also sink on the 15th. In the ensuing climactic battleship action,South Dakota was exposed by searchlight and bore the brunt of heavy enemy fire.Washington then rejoined the fray and quickly inflicted overwhelming and fatal damage to the Japanese battleshipKirishima (the core of the bombardment force) while herself remaining unscathed. The Japanese had again scored heavily, but in doing so had lost a battleship and a destroyer, and, more important, had abandoned their mission of bombarding Henderson Field into uselessness.
Preston earned twobattle stars for World War II service.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
