USS Gwin DD-433

USS Gwin (DD-433), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was launched 25 May 1940 by the Boston Navy Yard and commissioned at Boston on 15 January 1941 under the command of Lt. Comdr. J. M. Higgins.

Early Service

Following her shakedown, Gwin underwent upgrades and adjustments in the Boston Navy Yard before being assigned to the Neutrality Patrol in the Caribbean and the North Atlantic. Following the events of 7 December 1941, she was ordered to San Francisco.

On 3 April 1942 Gwin sailed San Francisco Bay as an escort for the carrier USS Hornet, which carried the 16 Army B-25 bombers to be launched in General Jimmy Doolittle's famous raid on Tokyo. The task force then steamed for the Battle of the Coral Sea, but the action was over before they arrived. Gwin returned to Pearl Harbor in May to make preparations for the Battle of Midway.

The Turning Point

Up to this point, the war in the Pacific had gone badly for the Allies.

Gwin left Pearl Harbor on 23 May, carrying a unit of Marine reinforcements for Midway and returning a week later. Two days later, she left to join the Fast Carrier Task Force (the spearhead group throughout the Pacific campaign) in the search for the Japanese Fleet off Midway. The battle was all over by the time she arrived on 5 June 1942; however, the cream of the Imperial Japanese Navy now lay at the bottom on the sea; from this point forward, the United States waged the offensive.

Victory had not come cheap, however. Gwin sent a salvage party to assist in attempts to save the damaged carrier Yorktown. As attempts continued 6 June 1942, a Japanese submarine sneaked in under the radar and finished the carrier off. The salvage party had to abandon Yorktown; Gwin rescued the survivors and carried them to Pearl Harbor.

Guadalcanal

Gwin left Pearl Harbor again on 15 July to escort the carriers supporting the invasion of Guadalcanal. In following months Gwin convoyed supply and troop reinforcements to the island and patrolled "the Slot" - a passage between the chain of Solomon Islands through which convoys supporting Japanese bases in the Solomons traveled.

On 13 November 1942 - the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal - Gwin and three other U.S. destroyers engaged the light cruiser IJN Nagara and two Japanese destroyers, IJN Ayanami and the Uranami. Gwin took a hit in her engine room and another in her fantail.

Her crew continued to fire, but before long, Gwin found herself alone. Nonetheless, by the time the smoke cleared, the IJN Kirishima and Ayanami were going down and the Gwin, though battered, was still afloat. After transporting survivors to New Caledonia, she was sent to Mare Island Navy Yard near San Francisco for repairs that would keep her out of action for four months.

Onward

Following her repairs, Gwin returned to the Southwest Pacific in April 1943 to escort troop and supply convoys throughout the Solomons. On 30 June during the New Georgia campaign, Gwin was hit as an enemy shell exploded on her main deck aft. Three crewmen were killed and seven injured. Gwin's crew nonetheless laid down a heavy smoke screen to protect the unloading transports and drove off aerial attacks.

On 13 July Gwin engaged the enemy while returning from a rescue mission in the Slot. She took a torpedo amidships and exploded. The destroyer Ralph Talbot (DD-390) rescued Gwin's survivors, but the vessel was damaged beyond repair, and she was scuttled the next day. Sixty-one members of her crew died with her.

Asbestos Risks

On every Navy destroyer through the 1960s, the fibrous mineral asbestos was widely utilized for compartment insulation and for fire control. Crewmen or civilian workers were prone to inhale airborne asbestos in the engine room and mechanical spaces; however, practically all parts of the USS Gwin offered at least some asbestos exposure. More danger of being subjected to high levels of asbestos inhalation resulted if the craft was damaged, in battle or accidentally, since such events frequently uncovered asbestos-contaminated components to the air or subjected them to flames or flooding.

The highest level of danger to human health when dealing with asbestos is experienced in circumstances where strands become damaged and fragile, because if very small asbestos filaments are released into the air, the material can then be inhaled by people near the hazard. Numerous studies have demonstrated that major health conditions such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma are caused by repeated asbestos ingestion.

Sailors and dockworkers with a history of contact with asbestos fibers should tell their physicians, because asbestos-related disorders can be difficult to distinguish from other illnesses. To learn more about the diagnostic process, available treatment options and financial assistance to help pay for medical costs, please fill out this form to receive a comprehensive packet in the mail.

It is a regrettable fact that along with the expected dangers of battle, servicemen who lived and worked on board the Gwin were, as were people on sister vessels of this class, all too often subjected to asbestos inhalation. This was especially the case because the Gwin took heavy damage in combat and had extensive reworkings and repair jobs. On top of the important damage and refit work, the troops who lived and worked aboard the Gwin were often endangered by asbestos fibers even in the daily execution of their service, as were for port-based workers such as machinists and electricians who repaired the vessel when the Gwin was at a shipyard.

Considering the USS Gwin's record, and in light of what we now know about the consequences of asbestos inhalation, it is important that the sailors who at any point in their career served or worked aboard this naval vessel, and those assigned to her sister ships, understand the health hazards raised by former exposure to asbestos fibers.

Sources:

Destroyers Index