USS Halford DD-480

USS Halford (DD-480) was a Fletcher-class destroyer, representing one of the most successful combat vessel designs of the 20th century. Her keel was laid down on 3 June 1941 at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington, and she was launched on 29 October 1942. Upon receiving her commission in April 1943, Lt. Cmdr. G. N. Johansen took the helm as her first ship's captain.

An Experiment

Halford was one of the three Fletcher-class destroyers equipped with a catapult for a floatplane. The catapult and an aircraft crane were located behind the aft stack, replacing a torpedo tube mount and some of the guns found on other vessels of this type. The floatplane was to be used for scouting purposes. After testing the idea under combat conditions in the South Pacific between July and October of 1943, the entire setup was found to be less effective than the use of carrier-based planes. Halford was ordered to the Mare Island Navy Yard near San Francisco. The catapult and crane were removed, and Halford was re-fitted with the standard Fletcher-class armaments.

Back to the Combat Zone

On 6 December 1943, Halford again sailed for the South Pacific. She took up convoy duties that included escorting the troopship USS Lurline, carrying Marine reinforcements to Guadalcanal. Once there, she took charge of the antisubmarine screen (essentially guard patrol) and provided support for the beachhead at Bougainville, guarding supply convoys and participating in coastal bombardments.

The Longest Cruise

After several months of active duty, Halford then prepared for the longest tour of duty of her career in June of 1944 - Operation Forager, the campaign for the Mariana Islands.

The initial phase of the campaign that would keep Halford at sea for 75 days involved shelling Japanese positions off Tinian's west coast by day, screening heavy shore bombardment units by night. On 17 June Halford joined the spearhead Fast Carrier Task Force for the Battle of the Philippine Sea. On 19 June, Halford participated in what U.S. Naval history records as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," during which the Imperial Japanese Navy lost 425 aircraft and three aircraft carriers.

Following the Battle of Leyte Gulf at the end of October 1944, Halford took up operations with the 3rd Fleet out of Ulithi for a month, then returned to Leyte to cover troop landings and escort supply convoys.

On 14 February 1945 while patrolling Saipan Harbor, in a smoke screen, Halford collided with a transport vessel. Although no crewmen were injured, the Halford suffered substantial damage and had return to Mare Island for extensive repairs.

Halford left California for the Pacific once more in May 1945. She proceeded to the Marshall Islands, where she escorted transports until 11 August. Halford was then ordered to Alaska as a unit of the Northern Pacific Fleet. There was a planned invasion of the Japanese Islands from the north, but hostilities ceased before it could be carried out. The Halford's task group occupied the Ominato Naval Base on Honshu on the last day of August 1945.

Fate

Like an aging Pacific Northwest salmon, Halford returned to the place where she was born in Bremerton, Washington, in October for one last overhaul. On 28 January 1946, she joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego on 28 January; she was decommissioned on 15 May.

Asbestos Risks

Through the 1960s, every Navy ship commonly used the mineral asbestos for insulating pipes and for fireproofing. Although nearly all parts of a ship like the USS Halford offered a real danger of asbestos risk, a vessel's boiler room and mechanical sections generally were the sections where sailors or maintenance workers were apt to be at risk of exposure to asbestos fibers. And whenever a vessel took damage, whether in battle, from Mother Nature, or accidentally, it almost inevitably exposed asbestos-laden materials to the air or subjected them to fire or flooding. This resulted in increased risk of harmful levels of asbestos inhalation.

When dealing with asbestos, the worst danger of harmful exposure happens when fibers deteriorate and become fragile, because if the asbestos fibers can enter the air, the particles can then be inhaled by those nearby. A history of asbestos risk is known to be definitively associated with mesothelioma, asbestosis, cancer, and many other serious medical disorders.

Most asbestos-caused conditions can be tricky to accurately diagnose; therefore, seamen who worked around asbestos should promptly tell their doctors of the details about this history. 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.

Along with the normal hazards of enemy encounters, crewmen who served on board the Halford were, as with people on the other destroyers of her type, all too often endangered by asbestos inhalation, particularly since the Halford took severe damage in combat and underwent extensive redesigns and repair jobs. Besides this serious combat damage and repair work, the troops who worked on the Halford were often endangered by asbestos in the daily conduct of their service. This was also true for port-based workers such as machinists and mechanics who repaired the ship when the Halford was at a shipyard.

Considering the USS Halford's history, and given our increased understanding of the outcome of prolonged contact with asbestos, it is imperative that servicemen who at any time in their career lived or worked aboard this vessel, as well as those who served on her sister ships, learn about the serious dangers posed by former exposure to asbestos fibers.

Sources:

Destroyers Index