USS Hale DD-642

USS Hale (DD-642), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was built the by Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, launched in April 1943, and commissioned at Boston on 15 June of that year, Cmdr. Karl F. Poehlmann in command.

World War II in the Pacific

Following shakedown training in the Caribbean and training exercises along the Atlantic Seaboard, Hale left for the Pacific in September, reporting for duty at Pearl Harbor on 9 October 1943.

Hale sailed for the war zone a month later, on 8 November 1943. Her first assignments were to protect carriers from submarine and aircraft attack and provide cover fire for ground troops during operations in the Gilbert Islands, which kept her occupied for most of the month.

Hale returned to Pearl Harbor on 8 December to train for the next operation, the invasion of the Ellice Islands. After that, she sailed on 21 January 1944 for the invasion of the Marshall Islands, shelling Maloelap and Wotje atolls for most of February during the operation. In early March, she sailed to Guadalcanal for antisubmarine patrol during loading operations, then left near the end of the month to escort troop transports to Bougainville, less than a thousand miles northeast of Australia.

Hale was ordered to join pre-invasion strikes on Guam in June. After a brief trip to Eniwetok on 14 July, she returned in order to support the Guam landings a week later.

On 20 October 1944, Hale's task group entered Leyte Gulf, providing fire support for ground troops taking the Japanese airfield at Dulag. With her was the cruiser USS Nashville, carrying General Douglas MacArthur, who had kept his promise to returned to his beloved Philippines at last.

Hale sailed for home in order to undergo repairs and maintenance on 24 November, arriving in San Francisco a month later.

End Game

Hale returned to the Pacific war in February 1945. On 14 March, she sailed with a carrier task force to attack enemy air installations in advance of the Okinawa invasion, followed by participation in the actual operation that began 1 April. After 10 days of heavy action, she sailed for Leyte Gulf, escorting the battleship South Dakota. On 1 July 1945, she joined the Fast Carrier Task Force for strikes on the Japanese mainland.

After the war, Hale remained in the area, operating as an air-sea rescue ship. She entered Tokyo Bay on 16 September 1945 and sailed for home on 1 October, carrying 100 servicemen. Reaching Seattle after a two-week voyage, she was then ordered to San Diego to stand down until being decommissioned on 15 January 1947.

Cold War

Hale was reactivated in March 1951 and stationed at Newport, Rhode Island, on 11 July 1951. After several months refresher training for her crew, she sailed for the Mediterranean on 22 April 1952, reporting to the 6th Fleet for an 18-month diplomatic mission. She returned to Newport on 23 October 1952.

From September 1953 to January 1954, Hale underwent a modernization overhaul at Philadelphia Navy Yard. For the next six years, she served a variety of tasks, operating in nearly every ocean in the world at some point. Hale served as the Destroyer Force Gunnery School Ship at Newport until November 1956. The following year, she joined the vessels of the 6th Fleet and stood by in the eastern Mediterranean during the Suez Canal Crisis, possibly averting a serious conflict in the region.

Hale was again decommissioned in July 1960 and was transferred to Colombia in January 1961 under the Military Assistance Program. She served the Columbian Navy as ARC Antioquia (DD-01) until 1973.

Asbestos Risks

On each American naval vessel during the first two-thirds of the 20th century, the substance known as asbestos was routinely used for insulation and for fireproofing. Each ship's engines and engineering compartments generally were the spaces where a sailor or a dockworker was prone to inhale particles of asbestos, but nearly all areas of the USS Hale presented a measurable level of asbestos risk. When the craft was damaged, whether due to enemy fire, by severe weather, or accidentally, it frequently exposed asbestos-laden fixtures to the air or subjected them to flames or flooding, which brought about more risk of undergoing harmful levels of asbestos inhalation.

With asbestos, the highest level of hazard to human health occurs when products made from the mineral become damaged and friable, because if the asbestos filaments go into the air, the particles can then be breathed in by people nearby. Scientists have demonstrated that life-threatening medical issues such as asbestosis, lung cancer and peritoneal mesothelioma are the result of a high level of asbestos inhalation.

Navy personnel exposed to asbestos should immediately notify their family doctors, as most asbestos-induced disorders are hard to detect. 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.

As with sailors on the other craft of the same type, the sailors who lived and worked on board the Hale were, in addition to the inherent dangers of war, constantly at risk for asbestos fiber exposure. This was particularly the case since, even though the Hale endured only light battle damage, she underwent extensive renovations and repair jobs. However, even beyond this important refit activity, our troops who worked aboard the Hale were often endangered by asbestos in the daily execution of their routine service. And the serious overhauls performed on the ship created many asbestos hazards for repair personnel such as pipefitters and electricians who maintained the craft when the

USS Hale spent time dry-docked. Given our increased understanding of the result of asbestos inhalation, those who served or toiled on board this ship at any point in their career, and those assigned to other naval vessels, should become fully aware of the dangers posed by service-related exposure to asbestos fibers, particularly considering the USS Hale's history.

Sources:

Destroyers Index