The fourth USS Preble (DD-345/DM-20/AG-99) was a United States Navy Clemson-class destroyer in commission from 1920 to 1945. She served in China, including on the Yangtze Patrol, and later saw combat in World War II as a minelayer. She was named for Commodore Edward Preble.
Construction and commissioning
Preble was laid down by the Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, on 12 April 1919. She was launched on 8 March 1920, sponsored by Miss Sallie MacIntosh Tucker, and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard in Boston, Massachusetts, on 19 March 1920, Cmdr. Harry A. Baldridge in command.
Service history
1920–1941
After shakedown in Cuban waters, Preble was assigned special duty in Mexican waters, arriving at Vera Cruz, Mexico, on 13 June 1920. During the following weeks she made three voyages to Galveston, Texas, to obtain medical supplies including antiserum to fight bubonic plague, which had developed during the rebellion of the Sonora Triumvirate. In August 1920 she returned north to join the United States Atlantic Fleet in exercises along the United States East Coast and in the Caribbean. In January 1921 the Atlantic Fleet and the United States Pacific Fleet joined off the Panama Canal Zone and cruised to the west coast of South America. Separating on 23 February 1921, the Atlantic Fleet steamed back to the Caribbean. and Huangpu Rivers. On several occasions Chinese factions fired on Preble from shore, but she suffered no casualties.
Pruitt received the Navy Occupation Service Medal with "Asia" clasp for the period 25 to 28 September 1945.