USS Preston (DD-795) - World War II

World War II

Following shakedown off California and extended exercises in Hawaiian waters, Preston departed Pearl Harbor, for the Marianas combat zone, 1 July 1944. On the 17th, she arrived off Guam and until 8 August screened the transport areas off the assault beaches. Two days in Apra harbor followed, after which she got underway for Eniwetok. On 29 August, she joined Task Force 38 (TF 38) and sailed west. Between 6 and 8 September, she screened the aircraft carriers during strikes against the Palaus; then, continuing on, guarded them during sorties against Japanese positions in the south and central Philippines. On completing runs on the 14th, she returned with the force to the Palaus to cover the landings on Peleliu and Anguar, then sailed back to the Philippines before retiring to Ulithi.

On 6 October, the force again sortied—this time to launch strikes preparatory to the invasion of the Philippines. After hitting the enemy's Formosan air bases, the force turned southeast for operations off Luzon in support of the Leyte landings. On 24 October, as the Japanese initiated a triple-pronged thrust to drive the Allied forces from Leyte Gulf, Preston's group, Task Group 38.3 (TG 38.3), came under severe attack in what was to be the first of the battles for Leyte Gulf. Wave after wave of bomber and torpedo planes closed the formation. Many were shot down, but Princeton (CVL-23) was lost. That evening TG 38.3 was ordered north to rendezvous with TG 38.2 and TG 38.4 and search for a Japanese carrier force. Within an hour of the midnight rendezvous search planes were flying. After daylight they caught the enemy force north of Cape Engaño and the fighting squadrons were sent off. In the afternoon the force's cruiser-destroyer group closed the surviving ships to deliver final blows. The force then retired to the south to join in the search for enemy vessels fleeing through San Bernardino Strait. On 27 October, sorties were flown to provide air cover for ground forces on Leyte after which the ships got underway for Ulithi.

By 5 November Preston was back in the operating area off Luzon as strikes were flown against enemy installations there. Anti-Japanese shipping runs in the central Philippines, particularly the Ormoc Bay area, followed and on 12 November the hammering of Luzon was resumed and repeated again on 25 November to 2 December and 10 to 21 December. On 30 December the force again steamed northwest from Ulithi, and after welcoming the new year, 1945, with raids on Formosa and the Nansei Shoto, supported the Lingayen assault. Then, passing through the Bashi Channel, the ships entered the South China Sea and blasted Japanese shipping and shore installations along the Indo-China coast. By 15 January they were off western Formosa and by the 19th had swung around to launch strikes against that island and Okinawa Gunto from the east. During February, Preston screened the carriers as their planes delivered devastating blows to industrial complexes on the Japanese home islands; provided air support for the assault troops on Iwo Jima; returned to Japan for further strikes on Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe; and then sailed south for renewed raids against the next amphibious target, Okinawa.

Preston, reassigned to TF 54 after returning to Ulithi in early March, sailed for the Ryukyus, 21 March, to screen the bombardment and underwater demolition groups. Between 24 March and 1 April she operated off Kerama Retto, then shifted to fire support off the Hagushi beaches. Continuing fire support duty until June, she provided assistance for Army and Marine Corps personnel on the Motobu Peninsula, where her fire enabled Marines to break out of their Japanese-ringed position; in the Nago Wan, Nakagusuku Wan, and Naha areas; and on Ie Shima and Kutaka Shima. In early June, she conducted patrols against suicide boats, then returned to fire support activities. In July, she patrolled off northern Okinawa on radar picket duty and, in August, escorted convoys in and out of the Buckner Bay area.

After the Japanese surrender, 14 August, Preston remained in the Okinawa area on air-sea rescue duty. On 6 September, she got underway for the United States, arriving at San Pedro, California on 24 September to begin inactivation. In November she shifted to San Diego where she decommissioned 24 April 1946 and was berthed as a unit of the Pacific Reserve Fleet.