Pratt DE-363

Pratt

(DE-363; dp. 1,745 (f.); 1. 306'0"; b. 36'7"; dr. 13'4"; s. 24 k.

cpl. 222; a. 2 5", 6 40mm., 2 dct., 8 dcp., 1 dcp. (hh.), 3 21" tt.; cl. John C. Butler)

Pratt (DE-363) was laid down bv the Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd., Orange, Tex., 11 Aprii 1944; launched 1 June 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Maleolm L. Pratt; and commissioned 18 September 1944, Comdr. Robert H. Wanless in command.

After shakedown off Bermuda, Pratt sailed with Eseort Division 85 for the Panama Canal and southwest Pacific. Arriving at Manus, Admiralty Islands, 7 January 1945, Pratt was escort commander for convoys running between New Guinea and the Philippines until 25 May. Between 25 May and 25 August she trained and escorted British and U.S. submarines in the Subie Bay area and patrolled the shipping lanes off the northwestern coast of Luzon.

Pratt next joined TG 70.4 and sailed to Okinawa where she joined the Korean occupation force. On 5 September she sailed for Jinsen and after aiding in establishing a seaplane anchorage there, she got underway with Currituck (AV-7) and Rombach (DE-364), for Shanghai, China, whence she shifted to Taku arriving 28 September to plant seaplane moorings. On 21 November she departed the Asian continent for Okinawa, thence to the United States for inactivation. Arriving at San Pedro 16 December, she decommissioned 14 May 1946 and was berthed at Stoekton as a unit of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Transferred to the Mare Island Group in 1959, she has remained a unit of the Reserve Fleet into 1970.