Repairing the Pruitt

One of the last ships that the Vestal worked on at Pearl Harbor in 1942, before sailing to Tongatabu, was the USS Pruitt. Vestal worked on Pruitt from August 1 to 12, 1942, just 2 days before the Vestal sailed from Pearl Harbor. The war diaries are vague about the work performed.

The Pruitt was launched in 1922, as a destroyer. She was converted to a minelayer in 1937. She was undergoing an overhaul at Pearl Harbor in 1941 when the Japanese attacked on December 7th. At the end of January 1942, her overhaul complete, she took up offshore patrol and minelaying duties around the Hawaiian Islands. In June, she sailed for the Aleutian Islands for minelaying operations and escort assignments out of Kodiak, where she operated through the fall, interrupted by regular runs back to the Hawaiian Islands. Then she provided escort duties along the West Coast. Later in 1943, she operated in the Solomons before returning to the states. She was stationed back in Hawaii during 1944 and 1945. A well-traveled ship, Pruitt earned 3 battle stars in WWII. She was decommissioned in 1945, and sold for scrap.

USS Pruitt (date unknown)
Source: NavSource Online