USS William B. Preston (DD-344/AVP-20/AVD-7) was a United States Navy in commission from 1920 to 1934. After conversion into a seaplane tender, she again was in commission from 1939 to 1945, seeing action during World War II. She was named for United States Secretary of the Navy and United States Senator William B. Preston.DANFS.
Construction and commissioning William B. Preston was laid down on 18 November 1918 at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. She was launched on 9 August 1919, sponsored by Mrs. William Radford Beale, the eldest daughter of William B. Preston, was designated DD-344 when the U.S. Navy established its modern hull number system on 17 July 1920, and was commissioned on 23 August 1920.
Service history 1920–1937
Following her commissioning, William B. Preston operated with Destroyer Division 19 and conducted trials and training off the United States East Coast through the end of 1920. She then proceeded south to join the United States Atlantic Fleet at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for winter maneuvers. After these exercises, she transited the Panama Canal to participate in the Atlantic Fleet's visit to Callao, Peru, and arrived at Callao on 21 January 1921.
The ship next received orders transferring her to Destroyer Division 45 in Destroyer Squadron 14 in the United States Asiatic Fleet. She joined the Asiatic Fleet in mid-1922. With her home port at Cavite on Luzon, near Manila in the Philippine Islands, she cruised with her division on exercises and maneuvers. In the summer months each year, the ships were based ay Yantai, known in the Western world as "Chefoo," on the north coast of Shantung (now Shandong) province in China, moving southward to Philippine waters for annual winter exercises. In between, there were visits to Chinese coastal ports such as Amoy (now Xiamen), Foochow (now Fuzhou), and Swatow (now Shantou), and occasional tours on the Yangtze River between Shanghai and Hankow (now Hankou) as part of the Yangtze Patrol, including a stint in October 1926 qualifying her for the Yangtze Service Medal.
Nanking Incident
In 1926, civil strife broke out in China which can be loosely characterized as a struggle between North China and South China for control of the country. To the south, the Nationalist (Kuomintang) party moved north from its base at Canton to extend its control over warlord-dominated areas. Led by Chiang Kai-shek, the Nationalists had reached Nanking (now Nanjing) by March 1927.
William B. Preston steamed up the Yangtze on 21 March 1927 and dropped anchor off the city, joining her sister ship there. Under orders to evacuate Americans, the destroyers took aboard 175 refugees – 73 aboard William B. Preston 102 aboard Noa . Gunfire coming closer to the city alerted the American destroyermen to the danger posed by the approaching Cantonese. Northern Chinese troops meanwhile melted away from the city that they were supposed to defend, leaving many foreigners in danger in the defenseless city. An armed guard from Noa stood by on shore while signal parties from William B. Preston and Noa transmitted information about the tense conditions in Nanking to the ships anchored in the muddy river. When the situation had worsened to a point of no return, Noa commenced firing with her guns; William B. Preston joined in with her main battery as well and, in the 10-minute barrage, fired 22 rounds of projectiles to scare off the invading soldiers. Sailors on both American ships also provided fire with bolt-action Springfield rifles and drum-fed Lewis guns. The British Royal Navy light cruiser and destroyer added to the barrage with their guns and the Chinese withdrew.
On 25 March 1927, with the situation much quieter in Nanking, William B. Preston prepared to leave the area in company with the refugee-laden steamer SS Kungwo. Chinese snipers, firing from concealed positions ashore, sent William B. Preston′s anchor detail scurrying for cover, and ricocheting bullets whined into the pre-dawn darkness. Return fire from a Lewis gun on the destroyer soon caused the sniper to cease fire. The ship, with civilians on board, was soon underway heading downriver. Three hours later, while proceeding between Silver Island and Xing Shan fort, small arms fire again crackled from the shore, first directed at Kungwo and next at William B. Preston. Sailors on the destroyer promptly broke out their Lewis guns and Springfield rifles to reply, but the situation suddenly worsened when a gun at the fort opened fire on the ships. One shell splashed into the muddy river ahead of the destroyer, another fell in the ship's wake and the third passed through the fire control platform. The destroyer quickly trained her number one gun around and fired three rounds in reply which, in addition to small arms and machine gun fire from the warship, silenced the firing from the shore. William B. Preston and her charges joined the British gunboat and the steamer SS Wen-chow below Chinkiang (now Zhenjiang). Snipers once again harassed the flotilla, but machine-gun fire from Cricket soon forced the Chinese to withdraw.
After turning Kungwo over to Cricket, William B. Preston returned to Nanking unhampered by further sniping. On 27 March 1927, with 70 more refugees embarked, she cleared Nanking and headed downriver. Lieutenant Commander G. B. Ashe, the ship's commanding officer, recalled that the Chinese had emplaced a field artillery piece at a key river bend and, accordingly, ordered general quarters well in advance. Cleared for action with guns trained out and the United States flag flying, William B. Preston rounded the bend, ready for a showdown. The Chinese, however, allowed the ship to pass without opening fire. William B. Preston again qualified for the Yangtze Service Medal for her actions against snipers while convoying American nationals out of the troubled areas.
1927–1934 William B. Preston returned to routine cruising in East Asia soon after the Nanking Incident. She was back in the United States by 1929, home-ported at San Diego, California, and assigned to the Battle Force. She operated with the Battle Force until 1934.
To meet the obligations imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930, William B. Preston was part of a group of destroyers laid up in reserve at the Philadelphia Navy Yard at League Island in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was decommissioned there on 15 October 1934.
1939–1941 As the U.S. Navy grew in size in the first months following the outbreak of World War II in Europe on 1 September 1939, the need for auxiliary ships to support the fleet multiplied accordingly. On 18 November 1939, William B. Preston was selected for conversion to a "small seaplane tender" and redesignated AVP-20. Soon thereafter, she entered the New York Navy Yard at Brooklyn, New York, for conversion. With her conversion complete, she was recommissioned on 14 June 1940. On 2 August 1940, the ship was reclassified again, this time as a "destroyer-seaplane tender," and redesignated AVD-7.
William B. Preston departed the New York City area on 5 August 1940 and arrived at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 6 August. On 11 August 1940, she headed for the Caribbean and arrived at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on 15 August. She then steamed to the Panama Canal Zone, transited the Panama Canal on 24 August 1940, and proceeded on to San Diego, where she arrived on 5 September 1940 for an eight-day pause en route to Hawaii.
Departing San Diego on 13 September 1940, William B. Preston mooring to a Submarine Base pier at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 19 September 1940. She then commenced operations with the fleet. She engaged in such tasks as tending scout planes, towing targets during fleet exercises, and making routine offshore patrols through 30 September 1940. She then anchored at Palmyra Atoll in the northern Line Islands to tend U.S. Navy PBY Catalina flying boats through 4 October 1940, when she returned to Pearl Harbor.
As patrol plane reinforcements flew over the Pacific bound for the Asiatic Fleet, William B. Preston served as a plane guard for three days in October 1940. She then resumed her routine duties from Pearl Harbor.
On 6 December 1940, the seaplane tender set course for the Philippines and her second tour of duty with the Asiatic Fleet. En route, she lay to at plane guard station "George" while U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron 26 (VP-26) passed overhead on course for the Philippine Islands. On 13 December 1940 she refueled from the seaplane tender and then lay to in the lee of Wake Island before proceeding on to Guam in the Mariana Islands. She arrived at Apra Harbor on Guam on 17 December 1940 but soon pressed onward and completed the last leg of her voyage to the Philippines when she anchored in Cañacao Bay, off the Cavite Navy Yard on Luzon, on 22 December 1940.
After operating in the Manila area through Christmas in late December 1940, William B. Preston took station in the harbor at Puerto Princessa on the island of Palawan, where she tended PBYs until mid-January 1941. Moving on to Tutu Bay on Jolo on 15 January 1941, she visited Igat Bay and Caldera Bay, both off Mindanao, before returning to Cañacao Bay on 8 February 1941.
From February to November 1941, the Asiatic Fleet continued its preparations as tensions increased between the United States and Japan. While some fleet units, including the majority of the destroyers, were sent south, William B. Preston was maintained in readiness in the Philippines. She tended PBYs and occasionally acted as a target tug for fleet maneuvers in the southern islands of the Philippine archipelago. After an overhaul at the Cavite Navy Yard in November 1941, she departed the Manila area on 1 December 1941, bound for the southeastern coast of Mindanao.
Upon her arrival in Davao Gulf off Mindanao, William B. Preston dropped anchor in Malalag Bay, where she was joined by a group of PBYs of the newly formed Patrol Wing 10, which soon commenced patrols. The planes reconnoitered several small bays and inlets, looking for strange ships or for any signs of suspicious activity.
World War II 1941 Shortly after 0300 on 8 December 1941, William B. Preston picked up the following radio message: "Japan has commenced hostilities. Govern yourselves accordingly."
Japan had launched a devastating air strike on Pearl Harbor while their invasion fleets moved southward from Indochina towards the raw-material-rich British and Dutch possessions in Malaya and the East Indies. The Philippines, too, were on the timetable for conquest.
Soon after the receipt of the notification of war, all of the planes tended by the destroyer-seaplane tender were readied for operations. Two remained behind while the rest flew off on their first war patrols over the Celebes Sea. The ship, meanwhile, shifted anchorage away from the two moored Catalinas to lessen the chance of one bomb damaging both ship and planes in one fell swoop. Bluejackets on William B. Preston belted ammunition for the ship's antiaircraft defense of four .50-caliber water-cooled Browning machine guns and took down the awnings which had shielded the crew from the tropical sun.
Around 0800, the ship's commanding officer, Lt. Comdr. Etheridge Grant, went forward to check the progress of the preparations to slip the anchor chain (should that become necessary). Suddenly a lookout called out, "Aircraft!" Grant sprinted to the bridge while Japanese planes swept around the narrow neck of the land shielding Malalag Bay from the broad Gulf of Davao. The attacking planes were nine "Claudes" and thirteen "Vals" from the . This was the first U.S.–Japanese combat in the Philippines of World War II.