USS Dashiell DD-659

USS Dashiell (DD-659) was a Fletcher-class destroyer and was a product of a private contractor, Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. The vessel launched on 6 February 1943 and was commissioned six weeks later under the command of Commander J. B. MacLean.

Dashiell reported to Pearl Harbor on 24 July 1943 for service with the Fast Carrier Task Group, the vanguard of virtually every major combat operation in the Pacific. Between the end of August and mid-November, she took part in raids on several islands, and was the first ship to enter the lagoon at Tarawa when the actual landings took place on 20 November. She operated under heavy fire for three days. After this assignment, she returned to the west coast for an overhaul and refit.

The first three months of 1944 were spent training in and around Hawaii, after which Dashiell proceeded to Guadalcanal on 16 March, followed by a bombardment of New Ireland off the coast of Papua on the 20 March. During the summer of 1944, she played significant roles during the invasion of the Marianas and the assaults on Saipan, Tinian and Guam. Dashiell was heavily involved in the series of actions leading to the reconquest of the Philippines between September 1944 and January 1945, including Leyte Gulf, Mindoro, and Luzon.

Dashiell was damaged in a major kamikaze attack on 14 April while completing radar picket duty during the invasion of Okinawa. Though she successfully fought off 20 aircraft, she was damaged when a bomb went off close to her side. Repairs at the nearby naval base on Ulithi Atoll took a month to complete and She was back in action on 17 May, continuing her support of air attacks on the Japanese home islands until the end of the war.

She sailed for home on 6 September 1945, reached Charleston on 21 October, and was mothballed in March 1946.

Korea and the Cold War

Pulled out of retirement in 1951, Dashiell was stationed in Newport, Rhode Island, and operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean until August 1952, when she left for Europe for eight weeks of NATO exercises. The following April, she left for her round-the-world cruise, which included a short tour of duty off the coast of Korea before returning to Philadelphia on 4 December.

For the next five years, Dashiell rotated between the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and her home port before her retirement in April 1960. She was sold and scrapped 15 years later.

Asbestos Risks

Through two world wars, every American Navy ship commonly utilized the substance known as asbestos for insulating compartments and as a fireproofing material since the mineral possesses a natural resistance to heat and fire. Though practically every part of destroyers such as the USS Dashiell presented a risk of asbestos exposure, a ship's engine room and engineering sections were generally the spaces where crewmen or dockworkers were in the greatest danger of inhaling asbestos fibers. Even greater risk of undergoing high levels of asbestos exposure resulted when a ship was damaged, often through battle or routine operations, since wear and tear to a vessel could cause asbestos-containing materials to release the toxic fibers into the air where anyone nearby could inhale or ingest them into the body.

Asbestos exposure can cause the development of serious asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, a rare cancer that typically affects the lining of the lungs. Mesothelioma develops when asbestos fibers enter the body and become lodged in organs and body cavities, causing inflammation or infection. Patients with mesothelioma may not present symptoms of the cancer until 20 to 50 years after initial asbestos exposure occurred. Veterans comprise approximately 30 percent of mesothelioma patients and those who served during the middle of the 20th century continue to be diagnosed with the cancer today. If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or served aboard the USS Dashiell and wish to learn more, please click here and Asbestos.com will send you a complimentary comprehensive packet.

In addition to those who served aboard ships and vessels, workers who repaired ships or worked on the construction of destroyers may also have been exposed to asbestos. If you served aboard a destroyer like the USS Dashiell or worked in a shipyard, you may wish to alert your doctor of your potential exposure to asbestos. Informing your doctor may lead to an earlier diagnosis should an asbestos-related disease be present, which may aid in greater treatment options to combat the illness.

Sources:

Destroyers Index