USS William B. Preston at Vancouver, June 1933.
USS William B. Preston (DD-344/AVP-20/AVD-7) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was named for United States Secretary of the Navy and United States Senator William B. Preston.
Bombing of Darwin, NT, Australia.
The ship arrived at Darwin, Australia, on the day after New Year's Day 1942 and soon received orders to provision to capacity and take on large stocks of spare parts, food, and replacement crews for the decimated ranks of personnel in PatWing 10. The ship then proceeded north for Ambon, in the Dutch East Indies, crowded with 100 extra men and much topside freight.
Upon her arrival at Ambon, the destroyer-seaplane tender found sister ship Childs and passed that ship enough fuel to enable her to reach Darwin. After delivering her embarked men and cargo, William B. Preston proceeded to Kendari, where she was camouflaged to blend in with the verdant hillside to which she was moored - in fact, she was so well camouflaged that her PBYs had trouble locating her when they returned to their base.
For the remainder of January and into February, the ship continued her tending operations as the forces combating the Japanese rapidly dwindled. On 12 February 1942, William B. Preston dropped anchor at Darwin to commence tending PBYs from that base in northern Australia. In about a week, her fuel began running low, forcing Lt. Comdr. Grant to go ashore to arrange for a delivery of much-needed fuel and gasoline to the ship.
At 0955, lookouts called down "large formations of planes approaching" and the ship went to general quarters. Within minutes, the ship was underway. Zigzagging her way through the crowded harbor, William B. Preston made for the open sea.
The first wave of planes attacked the town and its nearby fuel dumps and docks; the second wave went after the ships in the harbor, with transports and cargo ships as the primary objectives. Within minutes of each other, transports Tulagi and Meigs took hits; and ships alongside the docks were heavily hit as bombs rained indiscriminately on the port area.
Four bombs exploded off William B. Preston's bow, breaking bridge windows. The .30- and .50-caliber antiaircraft fire forced some of the attackers to keep their distance, but others pressed the attack with vigor. Peary, slower in getting underway, was enveloped in bomb splashes as Japanese accuracy marked the ship for destruction. Heavily hit, Peary burst into flames and rapidly became an inferno as bomb after bomb tore the ship apart and sank her down by the stern.
The Preston's turn was next, however; and she was hit aft, just forward of the after deckhouse. The ship lost steering control forward; and, in the interim period between regaining control by hand-steering aft, Lt. Wood conned and steered the ship using her engines and, despite a jammed rudder, succeeded in making for an opening in the harbor boom. Negotiating it by "judicious use of engines and slight assistance from the rudder with direct hand steering," William B. Preston escaped the inferno that left Darwin shattered and ruined as a base of operations for the Allies.
Heading south down the western coast of Australia, the ship took stock of her damage. Eleven men were killed, two missing, and three wounded by the bomb hit aft.
USS William B. Preston at Vancouver, June 1933.
USS William B. Preston (DD-344/AVP-20/AVD-7) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was named for United States Secretary of the Navy and United States Senator William B. Preston.
Bombing of Darwin, NT, Australia.
The ship arrived at Darwin, Australia, on the day after New Year's Day 1942 and soon received orders to provision to capacity and take on large stocks of spare parts, food, and replacement crews for the decimated ranks of personnel in PatWing 10. The ship then proceeded north for Ambon, in the Dutch East Indies, crowded with 100 extra men and much topside freight.
Upon her arrival at Ambon, the destroyer-seaplane tender found sister ship Childs and passed that ship enough fuel to enable her to reach Darwin. After delivering her embarked men and cargo, William B. Preston proceeded to Kendari, where she was camouflaged to blend in with the verdant hillside to which she was moored - in fact, she was so well camouflaged that her PBYs had trouble locating her when they returned to their base.
For the remainder of January and into February, the ship continued her tending operations as the forces combating the Japanese rapidly dwindled. On 12 February 1942, William B. Preston dropped anchor at Darwin to commence tending PBYs from that base in northern Australia. In about a week, her fuel began running low, forcing Lt. Comdr. Grant to go ashore to arrange for a delivery of much-needed fuel and gasoline to the ship.
At 0955, lookouts called down "large formations of planes approaching" and the ship went to general quarters. Within minutes, the ship was underway. Zigzagging her way through the crowded harbor, William B. Preston made for the open sea.
The first wave of planes attacked the town and its nearby fuel dumps and docks; the second wave went after the ships in the harbor, with transports and cargo ships as the primary objectives. Within minutes of each other, transports Tulagi and Meigs took hits; and ships alongside the docks were heavily hit as bombs rained indiscriminately on the port area.
Four bombs exploded off William B. Preston's bow, breaking bridge windows. The .30- and .50-caliber antiaircraft fire forced some of the attackers to keep their distance, but others pressed the attack with vigor. Peary, slower in getting underway, was enveloped in bomb splashes as Japanese accuracy marked the ship for destruction. Heavily hit, Peary burst into flames and rapidly became an inferno as bomb after bomb tore the ship apart and sank her down by the stern.
The Preston's turn was next, however; and she was hit aft, just forward of the after deckhouse. The ship lost steering control forward; and, in the interim period between regaining control by hand-steering aft, Lt. Wood conned and steered the ship using her engines and, despite a jammed rudder, succeeded in making for an opening in the harbor boom. Negotiating it by "judicious use of engines and slight assistance from the rudder with direct hand steering," William B. Preston escaped the inferno that left Darwin shattered and ruined as a base of operations for the Allies.
Heading south down the western coast of Australia, the ship took stock of her damage. Eleven men were killed, two missing, and three wounded by the bomb hit aft.