USS Brinkley Bass (DD-887)

The USS Brinkley Bass (DD-887) was one of several Gearing-class destroyers launched by the Consolidated Steel Corporation of Orange, Texas. Built between 20 December 1944 and 26 May 1945, the vessel was commissioned in October and commenced outfitting and shakedown in the Gulf of Mexico. After a yard availability in Charleston, South Carolina the Brinkley Bass departed for the Pacific on 2 February 1946.

Early Service Record

In the years following the end World War II, Bass completed several deployments to the Far East, initially for occupation duty and "mop-up" operations, and later to keep the peace and bring stability to the region. Between these deployments, she operated out of San Diego along the west coast, engaging in routine missions that took her as far as Alaska.

During this period, she underwent two yard periods, the first during the summer of 1947 at the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco and the second in the spring of 1949 at the Mare Island facility in Vallejo.

Korea and the Cold War

Shortly after returning to San Diego from her 1950 deployment in June of that year, hostilities broke out in Korea. Following a maintenance period at Hunter's point from 16 August to 8 October, Bass' crew underwent a month of refresher training before departing for the combat zone a month later.

During her first combat deployment to Korea, Bass initially operated with the carriers of Task Force 77. In May, she joined blockade operations with Task Force 95. On 20 May, nine crewmen were injured and one was tragically killed when a shell exploded just off her starboard side. She returned to TF 77 and carrier duty the following month.

Returning to San Diego on 6 August 1951, Bass remained in California until January 1952, when she departed for her second Korean deployment. The tour of duty ended in late August, after which she spent the remainder of the year at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
Bass got underway for her third combat tour of Korea in April 1953, during which a cease-fire went into effect.

After returning from her last combat deployment in November 1953, Bass commenced a schedule of training and readiness exercises along the California coast, alternating with yearly deployments to the Far East. This pattern continued until 1963, though it was interrupted in 1961 while Bass underwent her FRAM (Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization) overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

Vietnam

On 28 September 1965, Bass stood out of Long Beach as part of a carrier task group built around USS Ticonderoga. Her first combat tour of Vietnam included carrier operations and search and rescue missions in the Gulf of Tonkin. This tour of duty ended in February 1966, when she collided with the USS Waddell, necessitating return to the United States for repairs. The restorations were carried out at the Long Beach Yard between early April and mid-June 1966.

Bass departed for her next Vietnam deployment on 27 December. Over the subsequent months, she engaged in a range of duties that included search and rescue and carrier operations in the Gulf of Tonkin and periodic gunfire support missions. She remained in the area until the end of May 1967.

Bass operated out of Long Beach, with the exception of a yard period between 17 October and 13 January, until the summer of 1968. On 18 July, she departed for her third Vietnam deployment. For the next six months, she alternated between carrier duties and gunfire support missions.

Her next deployment to the Far East, which commenced in January 1970, included time in the Vietnam combat zone along with peacekeeping missions in the Sea of Japan and the Taiwan Strait. Returning to Long Beach that summer, she spent that fall in the Long Beach yard before returning to active duty.

On 14 May 1971, Brinkley Bass got underway for her last Far East deployment. After four months on the gun line and carrying out carrier operations, she departed for home on 19 September via several Australian ports. She arrived in Long Beach on 24 October.

Final Years

The USS Brinkley Bass spent the remainder of her U.S. Naval career operating between the California coast and Hawaii. In July 1972, she became a naval reserve training ship and was transferred to the port of Tacoma, Washington.

The Bass was decommissioned in San Diego on 3 December 1973. She was simultaneously transferred to the Brazilian Navy, where she served as the Mariz E. Barros (D 26) until 1997. The vessel was scuttled in 2000 during a target exercise.

Asbestos Risks

On board each American naval craft through the 1960s, asbestos, a toxic mineral, was widely used due to its innate resistance to heat and fire. It was commonly utilized for pipe insulation aboard many ships and vessels. Although practically all areas of a ship such as the USS Brinkley Bass presented a real danger of asbestos exposure, each ship's boiler room and engineering spaces were generally the areas where someone aboard the vessel was most likely to come into contact with asbestos. An increased risk of asbestos exposure occurred if a ship was damaged during battle or daily operations, causing asbestos fibers to break off into the air where they could be inhaled or ingested by anyone nearby.

Exposure to asbestos can cause the development of mesothelioma, asbestosis, tumors and other dangerous health conditions. Since most asbestos-related diseases can be difficult to diagnose since the symptoms can be mistaken for symptoms of less-serious illnesses, those who worked around this mineral may wish to alert their doctor of their past history of asbestos exposure.

Asbestos exposure can cause the development of mesothelioma, a rare cancer, when fibers are inhaled or ingested into the body where they can become lodged in organs and cavities. This can lead to inflammation and infection and the development of the cancer. If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or served aboard the USS Brinkley Bass and wish to learn more about symptoms, the diagnostic process, treatment and legal options, please click here and Asbestos.com will send you a complimentary comprehensive packet.

Sources

Destroyers Index