Allied Warships

USS William B. Preston (AVD 7)

Destroyer of the Clemson class

Photo from City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 447-2849

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Clemson
Pennant	AVD 7
Mod	Sea plane tender
Built by	Norfolk Navy Yard (Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S.A.)
Ordered
Laid down	18 Nov 1918
Launched	9 Jul 1919
Commissioned	23 Aug 1920
End service	6 Dec 1945
History	Decommissioned on 15 October 1934 Recommissioned on 14 June 1940 Reclassified as sea plane tender AVP-20 on 2 August 1940 Decommissioned on 6 December 1945 Stricken on 3 January 1946 Sold to be broken up for scrap on 26 November 1946

Commands listed for USS William B. Preston (AVD 7)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	Lt.Cdr. Francis Joseph Bridget, USN	14 Jun 1940	9 Jun 1941
2	Lt.Cdr. Etheridge Grant, USN	9 Jun 1941	18 Feb 1942
3	Lt. Lester Orin Wood, USN	18 Feb 1942	23 Feb 1942
4	Lt.Cdr. Etheridge Grant, USN	23 Feb 1942	1 May 1943
5	T/Lt.Cdr. Eugene Carter Rider, USN	1 May 1943	14 Nov 1943
6	Holcombe William Harvey, Jr., USNR	14 Nov 1943	18 Apr 1945
7	Lt. William Hugh Dyer, Jr., USNR	18 Apr 1945	6 Dec 1945

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Notable events involving William B. Preston include:

1 Jun 1942
A.M. on 1 June 1942, HMAS Canberra (Capt. G.D. Moore, RAN) departed Sydney as the harbour was being attacked by Japanese midget submarines. On leaving the harbour she was joined by USS William B. Preston (Lt.Cdr. E. Grant, USN) for A/S protection.

Around 1600K/1, USS Chicago (Capt. H.D. Bode, USN) and USS Perkins (Lt.Cdr. W.C. Ford, USN) also departed Sydney. They joined HMAS Canberra around 2050K/1 and HMAS Canberra, USS Chicago and USS Perkins then proceeded northwards to join Task Force 44 for exercises. They joined Task Force 44 on 3 June.

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