USS Prichett (DD-561), was a of the United States Navy. Namesake James M. Prichett was born in Centerville, Indiana in 1836. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1857. Prior to the Civil War he served aboard the on the China Station, and in on the Mediterranean Station. Assigned to the Washington Navy Yard in 1861, Prichett joined the Naval forces on the Mississippi River in 1862. On 4 July 1863, while commanding the gunboat , he participated in, and won praise for, effective action in repulsing a superior Confederate force during the battle of Helena, Arkansas. He also commanded monitor during the war. After the war he sailed with Admiral David Farragut's expedition to Russia and, in 1869, returned to the Pacific Squadron. Lieutenant Commander Prichett died in 1871 while attached to receiving ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Construction and commissioning Prichett was laid down 20 July 1942 by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Co., Seattle, Washington; launched 31 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Orville A. Tucker; and commissioned 15 January 1944. Central Pacific campaigns Following shakedown Prichett sailed, 1 April 1944, for Majuro, thence to Manus where she joined the battleships of Task Force 58 (TF 58). On the 28th, Task Group 58.3 (TG 58.3) sortied and, rendezvousing with the fast carriers, steamed northeast. On the 29th and 30th, they blasted Truk and, on 1 May, pounded Ponape. Then, the force retired to Majuro, whence Prichett returned to Pearl Harbor. There, fighter director equipment was installed and on 30 May she sailed west again, with TF 52 for the invasion of Saipan. Having screened the transports to the objective, she shifted her protective duties to the battleships as they bombarded the shore, then provided gunfire support to the troops landed on 15 June. During the Battle of the Philippine Sea she remained with the transports, then turned her guns on the neighboring Japanese-held island of Tinian. Remaining in the Marianas until mid-August, she alternated gunfire support duties, screening duties and radar picket duties off Saipan with bombardment of Tinian until that island was invaded 24 July, then provided support services for the troops fighting there. In August, she shifted to Guam to support mopping up operations and on the 17th got underway for Eniwetok to rejoin the fast carrier force, now designated TF 38. Arriving on the 20th, she sortied with TG 38.3 on the 29th and