USS Pringle DD-477

USS Pringle (DD-477) was a Fletcher-class destroyer built at the Charleston Navy Yard in Charleston, South Carolina, and launched on 2 May 1942. She was commissioned on 15 September 1942 under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Harold O. Larson.

A Unique Vessel

Pringle was one of the three Fletcher-class destroyers equipped with a catapult and crane setup for launching a floatplane. In theory, the floatplane was to be used for scouting purposes - the plane would be launched from the catapult and would be later recovered with the use of the crane. In practice, this turned out to be unworkable, and the equipment was ultimately removed.

To the Pacific

After an unsuccessful test of the catapult plane configuration in the Mid-Atlantic, Pringle sailed for the South Pacific in February 1943. Arriving off Guadalcanal on 30 May, she took up patrol duties off the Solomons. Except for a voyage to Sydney, Australia, in late January 1944, she remained in the Solomons for the next 10 months.

In March 1944, Pringle was ordered to the Marianas for bombardment, screening, and antisubmarine missions. After the invasions of Saipan and Tinian, she was allowed to return to San Francisco, California, where she underwent a period of repairs and refits at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

Pringle sailed for Pearl Harbor on 19 October 1944 and from there proceeded to the Philippines for the impending invasion. On 30 December, a kamikaze pilot crashed into her aft deckhouse, killing 11 crewmen and injuring 20. Two cannons were completely destroyed.

After two months of repairs, Pringle escorted a transport convoy to Iwo Jima for the invasion of that island on 17 February 1945. During the operation, she furnished cover fire for the Marines ashore. Returning to Ulithi on 4 March, her crew then prepared for the assault on Okinawa.

Fate

The USS Pringle was assigned to radar picket duty on 15 April 1944 during the battle of Okinawa. This was a dangerous job that made her a priority target for enemy aircraft. Pringle came under heavy attack by suicide kamikaze pilots the following day. Her crew managed to take down two of them before a third crashed into her bridge, penetrated the superstructure deck, and struck the vessel's forward stack, where half a ton of ordnance exploded, breaking Pringle in two. Though she sank in under 10 minutes; 258 crewmen survived.

Asbestos Risks

Through two world wars, each Navy vessel routinely employed the substance known as asbestos for insulating pipes and for fireproofing, with a ship's boiler room and mechanical sections usually where a crewman or a technician was prone to be in danger of inhaling particles of asbestos. Nevertheless, essentially all sections of the Pringle presented a measurable level of asbestos contamination. Whenever a warship was damaged in combat, by Mother Nature, or by accident, it often exposed asbestos-containing fixtures to the air or subjected them to fire or flooding. This resulted in even greater risk of being subjected to extensive asbestos exposure.

The highest level of danger of exposure with asbestos occurs when fibers become damaged and fragile, since if tiny asbestos filaments can enter the air, the material may then be inhaled by people nearby. Numerous studies have proven that serious medical problems such as asbestosis, lung cancer and pericardial mesothelioma are caused by occupational asbestos inhalation. Sailors and dockworkers with a history of contact with this mineral, therefore, should make a point to tell their primary care physicians, because most asbestos-caused disorders can be difficult to detect.

As with sailors on the other ships of this type, servicemen who sailed on board the Pringle were constantly, along with the expected dangers associated with enemy encounters, imperiled by asbestos fiber inhalation, particularly because the ship saw heavy damage in combat and went through intensive refits and repairs. In addition to this serious combat damage and repair activity, our troops who worked on the Pringle were often endangered by asbestos fibers in the ordinary conduct of their duties, as were repair personnel such as welders and electricians who maintained the ship when she spent time dry-docked.

Considering the Pringle's service record, and based on our increased understanding of the consequences of asbestos inhalation, it is vital that the men who at any time in their career sailed or worked aboard her, as well as those who served on her sisters in the fleet, find out about the serious dangers posed by former exposure to asbestos fibers.

Sources:

Destroyers Index