USS Hambleton DD-455

USS Hambleton (DD-455/DMS-20) was a Gleaves-class destroyer built by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Kearny, New Jersey, and launched on 26 September 1941. She was commissioned on 22 December 1941 with Cmdr. Forrest Close serving as ship's captain.

World War II

Hambleton's shakedown cruise took her along the coast of South America. She was diverted for anti-submarine patrols off the coast of Cuba in early March of 1942, during which her crew rescued six survivors of the torpedoing of the SS Ceibra. In April, Hambleton escorted carriers Augusta and Ranger to Africa for the delivery of Army Air Corps fighter planes for the North African campaign. On 17 May, during the return trip, Hambleton collided with her sister ship USS Ellyson during a heavy rain and had to put in to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then the Navy Yard at Charleston South, Carolina, for repairs.

On 1 July, Hambleton joined a fast troop transport out of New York City bound for Great Britain. She reported for duty with the Joint British and American Naval Forces in Europe, conducting antisubmarine patrols and escorting the British carrier HMS Duke of York through August. She then returned to the United States for duty along the eastern seaboard in preparation for the impending invasion of North Africa.

On 11 November 1942, Hambleton was anchored off the coast of Morocco when she was struck amidships on the port side by a German torpedo. She was towed to Casablanca for temporary repairs, where naval engineers actually cut the ship in two, removed a 40-foot section of her damaged hull, and then joined the two remaining halves together. Escorted by a tug and shorter by 40 feet, Hambleton limped home to Boston on 28 June 1943 for permanent repairs.

1944

After a second shakedown in the Caribbean and training along the east coast, the almost completely re-built Hambleton escorted a convoy to Algeria in April 1944 and began to prepare for her role in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. During her weeks in the Western Mediterranean, she sank the German sub U-616 after a four-day hunt.

From the Mediterranean, Hambleton sailed to Plymouth, England, staging area for D-Day landings. Escorting a convoy of LSTs to the landing areas the next day, she remained off Omaha Beach for shore bombardment. In the early morning hours of 9 June, Hambleton's radar picked up several contacts, soon determined to be small enemy torpedo boats, known as "E-Boats." Hambleton engaged the marauders in a four-hour running gun battle, sinking one and damaging another.

On 4 July, Hambleton returned to the Mediterranean, reaching Naples, Italy, on 15 July. On 11 August, she participated in the bombardment of shore positions on the southern coast of France prior to Operation Anvil, the invasion of Vichy (that part of France that had sided with the Axis). Hambleton remained in the Mediterranean for patrol and screening duty until sailing for Boston on 25 October. There, she was converted into a high speed minesweeper and redesignated DMS-20.

To The Pacific

Hambleton was again shipshape and Bristol-fashion by mid-December, leaving for the Pacific on the 30th. She arrived at the U.S. naval base on Ulithi Atoll on 9 March 1945, in time for the invasion of Okinawa. On 19 March, she arrived off the coast of that island. In advance of the actual landings, she cleared channels and anchorages for the 1,200 U.S. naval vessels scheduled to take part in the invasion.

During the campaign, she operated off Okinawa to sweep mines in addition to the regular destroyer missions of protecting larger ships and covering ground troops. Under almost constant attack from the air and damaged by a kamikaze suicide pilot on 3 April, Hambleton stayed at her assignment.

Once Okinawa had been secured, Hambleton and her sister ships were deployed to the East China Sea for one of the largest mine-sweeping operations in the history of modern warfare. With the formal surrender of Japan, Hambleton entered Tokyo Bay on 28 August to clear mines for the occupation forces. In the next few months, Hambleton cleared more than 180 mines from Japanese waters. She left for home on 20 November, arriving in Norfolk about five weeks later.

Cold War

During the next 10 years, Hambleton participated in fleet and tactical exercises in the Caribbean and along the east coast. In 1949, 1952 and 1954 she deployed to the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet to monitor situations in the Middle East during the early years of the new nation of Israel. After returning from her third Mediterranean deployment, Hambleton was decommissioned on 15 January 1955.

USS Hambleton was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1971 and sold the following year for scrap.

Asbestos Risks

Asbestos was widely employed for pipe insulation and for fireproofing on every Navy ship through the war era. Nearly all compartments of a ship such as the USS Hambleton posed a significant level of asbestos risk, but the engine room and engineering sections were the sections where crewmen or dockworkers were most likely to be exposed to airborne asbestos. Even greater danger of being subjected to harmful levels of asbestos exposure resulted whenever the ship was damaged, whether in battle or through misfortune, as that often exposed asbestos-contaminated components to the open air or subjected them to flames or flooding.

With asbestos, the greatest danger of exposure occurs whenever items containing the mineral become damaged and fragile; when the asbestos fibers go into the air, the particles can then be breathed in by workers near the exposure. Occupational asbestos risk is a causative factor that has been linked to malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis, cancer of the lungs and other serious medical problems.

Since most asbestos-caused problems are hard to detect, those with a history of contact with this mineral should promptly inform their primary physicians 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 inherent hazards of enemy encounters, men who fought on board the Hambleton were, like people on other craft of this type, all too often endangered by asbestos fiber exposure. This was especially true since the Hambleton underwent severe combat damage and extensive redesigns and patch jobs. On top of the major combat damage and redesign activity, our troops who worked on the Hambleton were also in contact with asbestos in the daily execution of their service. This was especially true for port-based workers such as machinists and carpenters who serviced the ship when she was in port.

Considering the Hambleton's history, and based on what we now know about the consequences of asbestos inhalation, it is imperative that those who at any time in their career lived and worked aboard this ship, and those assigned to other Navy ships, learn about the dangers posed by service-related exposure to asbestos.

Sources:

Destroyers Index