USS Haggard DD-555

USS Haggard (DD-555) was a Fletcher-class destroyer built by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Company of Seattle, Washington, and launched in February 1943. She was commissioned on 31 August 1943 under the command of Cmdr. D. A. Harris.

Into Harm's Way

Haggard reported for duty at Pearl Harbor on 30 November 1943 and spent the next two months in tactical exercises in preparations for the impending invasion of the Marshall Islands.

She sailed for the Marshalls on 22 January 1944 for the Marshalls, providing fire support for the troops that ultimately secured the island group.

For the four next months, Haggard operated with 3rd Fleet in the Solomons and off New Guinea. Her duties included reconnaissance patrols, convoy escort, and screening (guarding) carriers. In May, she was transferred to the 5th Fleet at Eniwetok for the invasion of the Marianas operation. Haggard arrived off the coast of Guam on 17 July with battleships USS Pennsylvania and New Mexico, commencing a bombardment of the beach fortifications in advance of Marine landings.

On to the Philippines

Haggard's next assignment was the invasion of the Philippines. She was assigned to an escort carrier group in support of the invasion of Leyte with Task Unit 77.4.2, helping to drive off a larger Japanese flotilla on 25 October.

She returned to the U.S. Naval Base on Ulithi 26 January 1945, but soon sailed for strikes against the Japan home islands. Sailing on 9 February, her group attacked the city of Tokyo 16-17 February, just prior to the Iwo Jima invasion.

As the Pacific campaign reached its conclusion, Haggard sailed with the 5th Fleet carriers for further attacks on Japan. Her task group moved toward Okinawa on 22 March, with Haggard acting as picket destroyer ahead of the formation, a dangerous task requiring the crew to monitor radar for incoming enemy craft.

Around midnight Haggard engaged Japanese submarine I-371, sinking her after the captain ordered the ship to ram it. Haggard's crew made emergency repairs to her damaged bow sailed her back to the NB on Ulithi for a month of permanent repairs.

Haggard sailed again on 21 April with the USS Iowa in support of the Okinawa operation. Proceeding to picket station a week later, Haggard was attacked by a kamikaze pilot making a shallow dive to starboard. The aircraft crashed and penetrated her hull near the waterline, her bomb exploding in the engine room. Flooding was eventually stopped, but the ship was dead in the water and had to be towed Kerama Retto, near Okinawa.

After six weeks of repair work, Haggard sailed for home, arriving at the Norfolk NOB on 5 August 1945. Decommissioned 1 November 1945, Haggard was considered beyond permanent repair and scrapped.

Asbestos Risks

In the first seven decades of the 20th century, every Navy ship commonly installed asbestos for pipe insulation and as fireproofing. The vessel's engines and mechanical sections were generally the sections where crewmen or a civilian worker was apt to inhale fibers of asbestos; nevertheless, practically all compartments of the USS Haggard offered a real danger of asbestos contamination. Whenever a vessel was damaged, whether in combat, by Mother Nature, or accidentally, it usually exposed asbestos-laden fixtures to the air or subjected them to fire or flooding; this brought about further risk of high levels of asbestos inhalation.

With asbestos, the highest level of hazard of harmful exposure occurs in circumstances where products made from the mineral become breakable; if the asbestos filaments are released into the surrounding air, the material can then be inhaled by those near the exposure. History has shown that life-threatening health issues such as asbestosis, tumors, and pericardial mesothelioma are linked to a history of asbestos exposure.

Sailors and dockworkers who were exposed to this substance should make a point to tell their doctors, because asbestos-induced problems 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.

Like people on her sister ships, those who served aboard the Haggard were, along with the normal dangers associated with combat, imperiled by asbestos fiber inhalation. This was particularly true since the Haggard experienced heavy battle damage and went through extensive redesigns and repairs. Besides the important battle damage and repair work, the troops who worked aboard the Haggard were also endangered by asbestos fibers in the daily execution of their service. This was also true for repair personnel such as pipefitters and electricians who worked on the craft when the Haggard was at a shipyard.

Considering the Haggard's service record, and based on our increased understanding of the outcome of asbestos exposure, it is important that those who at any point in their career lived or toiled aboard this naval vessel, and those assigned to her sisters in the fleet, understand the hazards raised by wartime exposure to this deadly mineral.

Sources:

Destroyers Index