World War II Database

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ww2dbaseAfter shakedown cruise and an one-month Atlantic patrol, Pringle headed for the Pacific. She arrived at Guadalcanal on 30 May 1943. Her typical duties during the Solomon Islands campaign involve being part of advance scouting forces as well as acting as escorts for troop transports, but she was involved in several combat actions very quickly. Her first combat action was on the night of 17 to 18 Jul, where along two other destroyers she attacked three Japanese destroyers off Vanga Point, Kolombangara. On the night of 3 to 4 Sep, with destroyer Dyson, she engaged several Japanese barges also off Kolombangara, sinking three. Her next major campaign was the Marianas invasion, where she screened for larger vessels against Japanese submarines; her guns provided some naval gunfire support for landing forces at Saipan and Tinian as well. After some time at Mare Island Naval Shipyard back in the United States, she returned to the front at the Philippines and took part in naval bombardments on 27 and 28 Nov 1944. While escorting supply vessels to Mindoro between 27 and 30 Dec 1944, the convoy was attacked by Japanese aircraft, sinking several ships; Pringle was damaged by kamikaze on 30 Dec, losing 11 men and putting her under repair until Feb 1945. After returning to service, she screened for troop transports and provided fire support for the Iwo Jima and Okinawa invasions. On 15 Apr 1945, she was once again damaged by kamikaze. The Japanese aircraft's 1,000-lb or two 500-lb bombs exploded belowdecks, sinking her six minutes later. A large portion, 258, of the crew survived.

USS Pringle Operational Timeline