USS Pringle (DD-477)

USS Pringle (DD-477) December 1942, with unique catapult and aircraft, and 5 inch (127 mm) guns trained to port.
History
United States
Namesake:	Joel R. P. Pringle
Builder:	Charleston Navy Yard
Laid down:	31 July 1941
Launched:	2 May 1942
Commissioned:	15 September 1942
Fate:	Sunk by Kamikaze off Okinawa, 16 April 1945
General characteristics
Class and type:	Fletcher-class destroyer
Displacement:	2,050 tons
Length:	376 ft 6 in (114.7 m)
Beam:	39 ft 8 in (12.1 m)
Draft:	17 ft 9 in (5.4 m)
Propulsion:	60,000 shp (45 MW) 2 propellers
Speed:	35 knots (65 km/h)
Range:	6500 nm @ 15 kn (12,000 km @ 28 km/h)
Complement:	336
Armament:	1942: 4 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. guns (4 × 1) 2 × Bofors 40 mm AA guns (1 × 2) 8 × Oerlikon 20 mm AA guns (8 × 1) 5 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (1 × 5) 6 × depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks 1944: 5 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. guns (5 × 1) 6 × Bofors 40 mm AA guns (3 × 2) 11 × Oerlikon 20 mm AA guns (11 × 1) 10 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2 × 5) 6 × depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks
Aircraft carried:	1, one catapult (removed 1944)

USS Pringle (DD-477), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Vice Admiral Joel R. P. Pringle (1873–1932).

Pringle was laid down by the Charleston Navy Yard, on 31 July 1941; launched on 2 May 1942, sponsored by Mrs. John D. H. Kane; and commissioned on 15 September 1942, with Lieutenant Commander Harold O. Larson in command.

Pringle was one of the three Fletcher-class destroyers to be built (out of 6 planned) with a catapult for a float plane. The catapult and an aircraft crane were located just aft of the number 2 smokestack, in place of the after torpedo tube mount, 5 inch mount number 3, and the 2nd deck of the after deck house which normally carried a twin 40 mm anti-aircraft gun on most ships of the class. (The twin 40 mm mount was moved to the fantail, just forward of the depth charge racks, where most ships of the class carried 20 mm mounts.) It was intended that the float plane be used for scouting for the destroyer flotilla to which the ship was attached. It would be launched by the catapult, land on the water next to the ship, and be recovered by the aircraft crane. Pringle was the first of five ships that eventually received the catapult to use it operationally. Due to design problems with the derrick, Pringle could not recover the Kingfisher airplane. Two ships constructed in 1943, the USS Stevens and the USS Halford, had redesigned derricks.Stevens became the first of the five ships to successfully launch and recover the plane. All were ultimately converted to the standard Fletcher-class configuration.