USS Boggs DD-136

The USS Boggs (DD-136) was built between November 1917 and April 1918. She was one of the few Wickes-class destroyers to be built on the West Coast, constructed at the Mare Island Naval Yard near San Francisco, California. She was commissioned on 23 September 1918 under the command of Commander. H. V. McKittrick.

Her first six months were spent patrolling the eastern seaboard and the Caribbean, after which she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet until she was decommissioned along with most of her sister ships in 1922.

The Boggs was pulled out of mothballs in late 1931, participating with the Battle Fleet in testing of new communications technology as well as towing derelicts used for target practice. She reported back to the Atlantic for the first ten months of 1934, then returned to the West Coast until ordered to Pearl Harbor in September 1940.

The Boggs was out of port during the attack on Pearl Harbor and kept busy in the days following the attack, minesweeping and patrolling as one of the few vessels remaining undamaged. Except for a supply run to the Phoenix Islands in the Central Pacific in 1943, the USS Boggs remained close to Pearl Harbor and then San Diego as a minesweeper and general utility vessel.

A major overhaul and refit was performed at San Pedro, California, between March and June 1945, during which her minesweeping equipment was removed and she was outfitted for towing. She was then ordered to the Marshall Islands, where she remained until October.

She returned home for the last time in January 1946 and was decommissioned three months later. Ultimately, the Boggs was sold for scrap that autumn.

Asbestos Risks

The mineral asbestos was routinely used for insulation and as fireproofing on each Navy vessel through both world wars, with the boilers and mechanical compartments areas of vessels where crewmen or a technician were most likely to come into contact with asbestos particles. However, practically every part of a ship like the USS Boggs posed a real danger of asbestos contamination. Increased danger of being subjected to major asbestos exposure resulted when the warship was damaged, in battle or by accident, exposing asbestos-laden materials to the air or subjecting them to fire or flooding.

With asbestos, the highest level of hazard of harmful exposure results whenever fibers are easily broken (or "friable"), because minute microfibers go into the surrounding air, allowing the material to be inhaled or ingested in by people nearby. Occupational asbestos risk has been definitively linked to multiple forms of mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer and and many other serious medical issues. Those workers and sailors who were exposed to asbestos during service may wish to alert their primary care physician of their exposure since many asbestos-induced diseases can be hard to detect.

If you worked on the USS Boggs, served aboard the vessel or have been diagnosed with mesothelioma and wish to learn more about treatment and legal options available to those with the cancer, please click here and Asbestos.com will send you a complimentary comprehensive packet.

Sources:

Destroyers Index