History:
The fourth Preble (DD-345)
was laid down by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, 12 April
1919, Iaunched 8 March 1920, sponsored by Miss Sallie MacIntosh
Tucker, and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard 19 March 1920,
Comdr. H. A. Baldridge in command.
After shakedown in Cuban
waters, Preble was assigned special duty in Mexican waters,
arriving Vera Cruz 13 June. During the following weeks she made
three voyages to Galveston, Tex., to obtain medical supplies
including serum to fight bubonic plague which had developed
during the rebellion of the Sonora triumvirate. In August she
returned north to join the Atlantic Fleet in East Coast and
Caribbean exercises. In January 1921 the Atlantic and Pacific
Fleets joined off the Canal Zone and cruised to the west coast
of South America. Separating on 23 February, the Atlantic Fleet
steamed back to the Caribbean.
Preble departed Newport,
R.I., 20 June enroute to the Asiatic Station, via Suez, with
units of Squadron 15. She arrived at Chefoo, China, 26 August
1922, and for the next 7 years cruised off the coast of Asia
from Manchuria to Burma in Japanese waters, and amongst the
Philippines, East Indies and Marianas. In September 1923 she
assisted victims of violent earthquakes which shook Japan. From
12 June to 2 July 1924 she was at Rangoon, Burma, and Calcutta,
India delivering gas and oil for a round-the-world flight of
Army planes. In 1927 Preble was assigned patrol duty in
strife-torn China, taking aboard American and foreign refugees
and escorting merchant vessels in the Yangtze and Whangpo
Rivers. On several occasions Chinese factions fired on Preble
from shore, but there were no casualties.
Preble departed Tsingtao,
China, 12 July 1929 and returned to San Diego, 17 August 1929.
For several years she was based at San Diego, cruising along the
western seaboard of the United States, with operations in waters
of Mexico and the Caribbean. She was assigned to Rotating
Reserve Destroyer Squadron 20 at the Mare Island Navy Yard 24
September 1932. In May 1934 Preble engaged in Fleet Problem 15
off the Panama Canal and in Cuban waters, before returning to
the Pacific. She participated in Fleet Problems 16 and 18 in the
Hawaiian area in May-June 1935 and April-May 1937.
On 19 May 1937 Preble was
transferred from Destroyers Battle Force, to duty with
Minecraft, Battle Force. Converted to a light minelayer, she was
reclassified DM- 20, effective 30 June 1937. She departed Pearl
Harbor 20 September 1937 for mine training operations on the
West Coast and returned to Hawaii in December. She remained in
the Hawaiian area until the outbreak of World War II, engaging
in scheduled mining exercises and fleet maneuvers.
On 7 December 1941 when the
Japanese forces launched their attack, Preble was being
overhauled at Pearl Harbor and was unable to get underway. As
necessary guns and ammunition were not aboard, a large number of
Preble's crew handled ammunition, fought fires, and cared for
the wounded aboard Pennsylvania (BB-38). On 30 January 1942
Preble completed her yard overhaul and joined the patrol
operating just off the Pearl Harbor entrance. On 1 April she
departed Pearl Harbor with units of Mine Division 1 to lay a
large minefield at French Frigate Shoals, 500 miles northwest of
Oahu. In July she assisted in laying a defensive minefield
around the base at Kodiak, Alaska, returning to Pearl Harbor via
Seattle for overhaul and patrol operations. On 6 December she
departed Pearl Harbor for the Fiji Islands and Noumea, New
Caledonia, serving on escort duty in the New Hebrides during
January 1943.
On the night of 31 January
Tracy, Montgomery, and Preble laid mines in the mouth of the
Tenambo River, Guadalcanal to prevent the evacuation of enemy
troops. During the next two months Preble performed escort
duties to the New Hebrides and Russell Islands.
On the night of 6 May Preble
with minelayers Gamble and Breese in company with Radford
(DD-446) laid mines in Ferguson Passage between Gizo and
Wanawana Islands in the Solomons. On the night of 7-8 May these
mines sank a Japanese destroyer and damaged two others which
were sunk the next day by torpedo bombers from Guadalcanal.
On 24 May Preble rescued 85
survivors from torpedoed SS Stanvae Manila. On the night of 28
June Breese, Gamble and Preble mined the waters near Shortland
Island to prevent units of the Japanese fleet based there from
interfering with landing operations on Rendova Island in the New
Georgia Group, which were to be carried out at dawn. During July
and August Preble again served as an escort vessel. On 9
September she departed Noumea for San Francisco.
After overhaul and convoy
escort duty to Pearl Harbor, Preble reached Majuro, Marshall
Islands, 3 February 1944 where she served as anti-submarine
screen and mine layer before returning to Pearl Harbor. She then
made three escort voyages from Pearl Harbor to Marshall Island
ports. After minesweeping training, Preble departed Purvis Bay,
Florida Island, 6 September, with minesweeping units of Rear
Admiral Oldendorf's TG 32.5. Arriving off Peleliu in the early
morning of 12 September, while fire support ships opened
bombardment, Preble separated to investigate the shoals between
Anguar and Peleliu Islands where the enemy had been suspected of
planting acoustic mines. The next day she helped rescue
survivors of Perry (DMS-17) which had struck a mine. She
continued to perform various screening and minesweeping duties.
Preble arrived Manus,
Admiralty Islands, 1 October, where she joined mine sweeping
Task Group 77.5 which arrived off the entrance to Leyte Gulf 17
October where she remained laying bouys and acting as mine
destruction vessel for 6 days before returning to Manus. After
training at Manus, she returned to San Pedro Bay 1 January 1945,
but steamed a month later for Pearl Harbor and much needed
repairs in the States, arriving San Francisco 8 March.
Returning to Pearl Harbor 8
May, Preble was redesignated a miscellaneous auxiliary vessel
(AG-99) 5 June. She was assigned to duty escorting aircraft
carriers engaged in training, acting as anti-submarine patrol
vessel and plane guard during flight operations. She reached
Guam with Vella Gulf (CVE-111) 20 July, subsequently escorting
Vella Gulf to Okinawa. After returning to Guam, she escorted
Sithoh Bay (CVE-86) to Samar, Philippines, arriving 20
September.
Preble steamed for the United
States 9 October, arriving Norfolk 20 November. She
decommissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard 7 December 1945.
Her name was struck from the Navy List 3 January 1946 and she
was sold for scrap to Luria Brothers of Philadelphia 26 October
1946.
Preble earned 8 battle stars
for World War II service. |
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