USS Pringle (DD-477)
| USS Pringle (DD-477) December 1942, 5 inch (127 mm) guns trained to port. |
USS Pringle (DD-477) | | Career | |
|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 31 July 1941 |
| Launched: | 2 May 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 15 September 1942 |
| Struck: | |
| Fate: | Sunk off Okinawa,
16 April 1945 |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: | 2,940 tons (full) |
| Length: | 376 ft 5 in (114.7 m) |
| Beam: | 39 ft 7 in (12.1 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft 9 in (4.2 m) |
| Propulsion: | 60,000 shp (45 MW);
2 propellers |
| Speed: | 35 knots (65 km/h) |
| Range: | 6500 nmi. (12,000 km)
@ 15 kt |
| Complement: | 329 |
| Armament: | As built:
4 × 5 in./38 guns (12.7 cm)
2 × 40 mm AA guns (1x2)
7 × 20 mm AA guns (7x1)
5 × 21 in. torpedo tubes (1x5)
6 × depth charge projectors
2 × depth charge tracks |
| Aircraft: | 1, one catapult |
| Motto: |
USS Pringle (DD-477), a
Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the
United States Navy named for
Vice Admiral Joel R. P. Pringle (
1873 -
1932).
Pringle was laid down by the
Charleston Navy Yard,
Charleston, South Carolina, on
31 July 1941;
launched on
2 May 1942, sponsored by Mrs. John D. H. Kane; and
commissioned on
15 September 1942, with
Lieutenant Commander Harold O. Larson in command.
Pringle was one of the three Fletcher-class destroyers to be built (out of 6 planned) with a
catapult for a
float plane. The catapult and an aircraft
crane were located just aft of the number 2
smokestack, in place of the after
torpedo tube mount, 5 inch mount number 3, and the 2nd deck of the after deck house which normally carried a twin 40 mm anti-aircraft gun on most ships of the class. (The twin 40 mm mount was moved to the
fantail, just forward of the depth charge racks, where most ships of the class carried 20 mm mounts.) It was intended that the float plane be used for scouting for the destroyer flotilla which the ship was attached to. It would be launched by the catapult, land on the water next to the ship, and be recovered by the aircraft crane.
Pringle was the only one of the 3 ships that eventually received the catapult to use it operationally. It turned out to be not operationally suitable for the intended purpose, and the 3 ships were ultimately converted to the standard Fletcher-class configuration.
Following shakedown,
Pringle joined
Convoy ON-154 in mid-
Atlantic 1 January 1943 to escort the
Halifax-bound contingent. While on this duty she was the first U.S. destroyer to use an aircraft with catapult. The float plane was catapulted off to search for enemy submarines. Recovery of the plane in the prevailing weather for a ship the size of the
Pringle was difficult.
On
6 February, she got underway for the
Pacific Theater. Arriving off
Guadalcanal on
30 May, she took up patrol duties off the
Solomons, and, on the night of
17 -
18 July, joined
Waller (DD-466) and
Saufley (DD-465) in attacking three
Japanese destroyers off
Vanga Point,
Kolombangara. Scoring several
torpedo hits, she also shot down one
Japanese plane.
As the
Solomons Islands campaign continued into August,
Pringle screened advance units of the
Vella Lavella assault force, escorted
LSTs through
Gizo strait, and on the
24th covered
minelaying operations off Kolombangara under Japanese guns. On the night of
3 -
4 September,
Pringle with
Dyson (DD-572) made a sweep of Japanese
barges between
Gambi Head,
Choiseul, and Kolombangara, sinking three.
While escorting Task Group 31.7 into
Empress Augusta Bay,
Bougainville, on
11 November, 10 days after the initial landing there,
Pringle shot down one Japanese plane and damaged another. With the exception of a run to
Sydney in late January
1944, she continued to operate in the Solomons for the next few months. She swept the southwest coast of Bougainville during daylight in early March, bombarding enemy installations and beached barges.
The
Marianas operation produced another long period of bombardment, screening and
anti-submarine missions for
Pringle. During the assaults
on Saipan and
Tinian, she conducted fire support operations. She then returned to
San Francisco, California, for refit and to rest her crew.
After overhaul at
Mare Island Naval Shipyard,
Pringle sailed for
Pearl Harbor on
19 October. She departed Pearl Harbor on
10 November for the
Philippines to take part in the upcoming invasion. From
27 to
28 November, she bombarded enemy shore positions near
Ormoc Bay,
Leyte, shooting down a Japanese plane on the same day.
Pringle came under her most intense air attack while escorting a re-supply echelon to
Mindoro from
27 to
30 December. Several ships in the convoy were sunk, while
Pringle shot down two planes. On the 30th a
kamikaze crashed into her after deckhouse, killing 11 men and injuring 20, totally destroying one 40 mm mount and damaging two 5 inch mounts.
Back in service in February,
Pringle screened
transports to
Iwo Jima for the
assault there on the
17th, then provided fire support for the
Marines ashore. Returning to
Ulithi on
4 March, she prepared for the
assault on Okinawa.
Operating with
Destroyer Division 90, she screened transport areas, covered
minesweepers, and provided support fire. Assigned to
radar picket duty on
15 April, she splashed two kamikazes on the
16th before a third crashed into her bridge, and plowed through the
superstructure deck, abaft the base of number one stack. A single 1,000 pound
bomb, or two 500-pounders, penetrated the main and superstructure decks and exploded with a violent eruption, buckling the
keel and splitting the vessel in two at the forward fire room. Six minutes later, 258 survivors watched
Pringle slide beneath the surface.
Pringle earned 10
battle stars for
World War II service.
*
Survivor and Crew website: USS Pringle*
history.navy.mil: USS Pringle*
navsource.org: USS Pringle*
hazegray.org: USS Pringle
