USS Preston (DD-379)

USS Preston while underway in the late 1930s
History
United States
Name:	Preston
Namesake:	Samuel W. Preston
Builder:	Mare Island Navy Yard
Laid down:	27 October 1934
Launched:	22 April 1936
Commissioned:	27 October 1936
Fate:	Sunk 14 November 1942
General characteristics
Class and type:	Mahan-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,500 tons
Length:	341 ft 4 in (104.0 m)
Beam:	35 ft 0 in (10.7 m)
Draft:	9 ft 10 in (3.0 m)
Speed:	37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Complement:	158
Armament:	As built: 1 × Gun Director above bridge, 5 × 5" (127 mm)/38 cal DP (5x1), 12 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (3x4), 4 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) MG AA (4x1), 2 × depth charge stern racks, c1942: 1 × Mk33 Gun Fire Control System, 4 × 5" (127 mm)/38cal DP (4x1), 12 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (3x4), 2 × Mk51 Gun Directors, 4 × Bofors 40 mm AA (2x2), 6 × Oerlikon 20 mm AA (6x1), 2 × depth charge roll-off stern racks, 4 × K-gun depth charge projectors

USS Preston (DD–379) was a Mahan-class destroyer in the United States Navy before and during World War II. She was the fifth Navy ship named for Lieutenant Samuel W. Preston (1840–1865).

Preston was laid down on 27 October 1934 at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, and launched on 22 April 1936. She was sponsored by Mrs. Edward H. Campbell, commissioned on 27 October 1936, with Commander C. D. Swain in command.

Following shakedown, Preston operated briefly under the Chief of Naval Operations, then joined Battle Force, U.S. Fleet. Initially assigned to Destroyer Squadron 2 (DesRon 2), then shifted to DesRon 5, she conducted peacetime training exercises in the Pacific until 7 December 1941. Patrol and coastal escort duties along the west coast kept Preston in the eastern Pacific until 1 June 1942. Then setting a westward course she headed for Hawaii in the screen of the aircraft carrier Saratoga. Arriving on 6 June, her group, TG 11.1, departed again the next day to rendezvous with Task Force 17 (TF17) and deliver planes, pilots, and material to the carriers Enterprise and Hornet as that force refueled and rested after the Battle of Midway.