USS Inchon (LPH-12)

The USS Inchon (LPH-12) was the last of the U.S. Navy’s Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ships. The Inchon and her sister LPHs were among the first purpose-built helicopter carriers, and their air wings gave the Navy the ability to deploy Marines behind enemy beaches.

Work on the USS Inchon began in 1968 at the Ingalls Shipbuilding Company’s Pascagoula, Mississippi, shipyard. The Inchon was commissioned on June 20th, 1970, and immediately embarked on her first shakedown and training run. Following her successful shakedown cruise, the USS Inchon was deployed to Vietnam, where she participated in one campaign and earned a Vietnam battle star. The Inchon was subsequently deployed with the Navy’s Atlantic Fleet.

While on deployment in the Mediterranean in 1975, the USS Inchon collided with the USS Caloosahatchee, a replenishment ship, resulting in minor damage to both vessels. The Inchon was involved in a more serious at-sea collision just five years later, when on February 5th, 1980, she ran into the USS Spiegel Grove in the Atlantic Ocean. The Inchon and her crew responded quickly to the impact, and, in the face of a chaotic environment and clouds of asbestos-laden dust stirred up by the impact, the sailors aboard the Inchon brought the situation under control.

The history of the USS Inchon was generally quiet, but a number of other accidents interrupted her otherwise peaceful deployments. On November 14th, 1989, a particularly large fire broke out on the Inchon’s hangar deck while the ship was berthed in her home port of Norfolk, Virginia. The fire raged throughout much of the hangar deck, sending smoke and asbestos debris throughout the Inchon. Once again, the Inchon’s crew responded well, although 31 sailors were injured, and many others undoubtedly received asbestos inhalation as a result of the incident.

Several years later, in March of 1995, the USS Inchon was re-designated as MCS-12, a Mine Countermeasures Command and Support Ship. However, the Navy decided that the role was extraneous, and the Inchon was the only vessel to ever wear the MCS designation. In October of 2001, while the Inchon was in port in Ingleside, Texas, she suffered the second major fire of her career. This second inferno was significantly worse than the first, and it raged for nearly 45 minutes before the crew brought it under control. During those tense 45 minutes, many of the responding sailors aboard the Inchon received significant exposure to smoke and asbestos fibers, and several were eventually treated for smoke inhalation. Following the fire, the U.S. Navy decided that it wasn’t worth the cost of the repairs to keep the Inchon in service, and on June 20th, 2002, the USS Inchon was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register. She was ultimately sunk on December 5th, 2004, as part of a Navy training exercise.

For as long as there have been wars, those who serve in the armed forces have understood that their service means facing many risks. However, what many of our military personnel in the majority of the 1900s, especially sailors in the navy, did not know was that exposure to asbestos could sometimes prove to be nearly as life-threatening as enemy bullets.

To safeguard the ship's crew, along with the vessel itself, from flames and excessive heat, materials with excellent insulating properties are important when building a ship. As a result, it was typical (and in fact often required by law) for fire retardants like asbestos to be used during the period when ships like USS Inchon were constructed. Asbestos was known even in ancient times for its fireproofing properties; however, it was also proven to be the main factor in the development of such serious conditions such as "miners lung" and pleural mesothelioma. The harm brought about by asbestos happens when very small particles are inhaled; they can infiltrate the lungs and sometimes the stomach, leading to development of scar tissue in the case of pleural plaques and cellular damage in the case of mesothelioma.

The consequences of contact with asbestos weren't likely a high priority to most sailors while they were focused on fighting off an enemy attack or coping with accidents. However, if a ship was damaged from battle action, during a typhoon or by accident, it frequently exposed asbestos and allowed it to be exposed to the elements, creating hazards beyond the more immediate ones. Furthermore, as practically all spaces in ships like USS Inchon contained asbestos, those aboard generally were faced with some level of asbestos exposure even in their normal duties. With asbestos being prevalent around ship's conduits and mechanical areas, navy files who worked in such areas were particularly at risk. Even land-based workers like plumbers were subject to developing asbestos-related illnesses if they repaired ships like USS Inchon without using safety equipment and procedures.

The various forms of mesothelioma are hard to distinguish from other illnesses, as they have symptoms in common with such conditions. However, being aware of a patient's history of asbestos exposure can assist a healthcare professional in being able to determine if a patient is likely to have mesothelioma. Navy files who maintained or served aboard USS Inchon are therefore advised to talk about their service history with their doctors.

Sources:

Auxiliary Vessels Index