USS Harding DD-625

USS Harding (DD-625) was a Gleaves-class destroyer built by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation of Seattle, Washington; she was launched on 28 June 1942. When the ship was commissioned on 25 May 1943, Lt. Cmdr. G. G. Palmer was assigned to command the vessel.

War Record

After her initial shakedown cruise, Harding sailed for the Norfolk NOB on 1 July 1943.Her crew trained for a month in Chesapeake Bay and off the east coast before joining a convoy bound for the combat zone. For the next eight months, Harding's assignment was to conduct anti-submarine patrols for merchant convoys in the Atlantic. During this period, she made three round trips to North Africa.

Harding sailed with a convoy for Europe on 18 April. The ship and her crew spent the month of May training with other ships in the Irish Sea for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy. On 6 June 1944, Harding took up her assigned fire support station, destroying numerous German pillboxes and machine gun emplacements. She continued operations in the assault area for the next six weeks before being ordered to the Mediterranean.

Harding sailed for Algeria on 1 August, then proceeded to the southern coast of Vichy France in preparations for another invasion. On the night of 17 August, she and three other destroyers engaged four small German Schnellbooten (E-Boats) in a running battle. Despite the German torpedo boats' greater speed and maneuverability, Harding's crew sank three of them.

Harding joined a convoy to North Africa on 24 August, returned to southern France until 6 September, then sailed for home on the 25th. She proceeded to Boston and was converted into a destroyer minesweeper. Reclassified as DMS-28 on 15 November, Harding underwent a month of shakedown trials and crew training until 30 December when she set sail for the Pacific. She arrived in San Diego on 15 January 1945, and her crew continued their minesweeping training for another month.

The Minesweeper

Harding arrived at the naval base at Ulithi Atoll on 9 March in order to prepare for the invasion of Okinawa. She sailed for Okinawa 10 days later and began her minesweeping operations in the surrounding areas on the 24th. During the initial landings on 1 April, Harding served as an outer screening ship, forming the first line of defense against enemy air attacks. After a week of this highly hazardous duty, Harding was assigned to provide fire support to ground forces for a night. She returned to screening duties the next day, and on 16 April was hit by a kamikaze pilot whose bomb tore a huge gash in Harding's side from keel to main deck when it exploded. Twenty-two crewmen died, and nine more were injured.

Following temporary repairs, she returned to Pearl Harbor on 22 August. From there, she proceeded to Norfolk, arriving 17 September. She was decommissioned on 2 November 1945, and was sold to the Luia Brothers Scrap Metal Company of Philadelphia in April 1947.

Asbestos Risks

Asbestos was widely used for compartment insulation and for fireproofing on every Navy craft of the World War II era. A vessel's engines and mechanical spaces generally were the sections where a crewman or a civilian worker was prone to inhale air contaminated with asbestos; nevertheless, practically every part of a ship such as the Harding posed a real danger of asbestos risk. If a ship was damaged, whether in combat, by severe weather, or accidentally, it usually uncovered asbestos-containing compartments to the air or subjected them to flames or water. This meant even more danger of having high levels of asbestos inhalation.

The highest level of hazard to human health associated with asbestos is experienced whenever products made from the mineral become damaged and breakable, since if minute asbestos fibers escape into the surrounding air, the material can then be inhaled by workers nearby. Extensive asbestos inhalation is extensively linked with several types of mesothelioma, asbestosis, cancer of the lungs and other serious health problems.

Sailors and dockworkers exposed to this mineral should promptly tell their family doctors, since most asbestos-caused problems can be 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 servicemen on the other craft of the same class, the crewmen who fought on board the USS Harding were all too often at risk for asbestos exposure, particularly since the Harding suffered heavy damage in combat and went through extensive reworkings and repair jobs. Besides this significant damage and refit activity, the men who served on board the Harding were often subject to inhalation of asbestos in the ordinary conduct of their everyday duties, as were repair personnel such as pipefitters and electricians who worked on the vessel when the Harding was in port.

Given our increased understanding of the result of asbestos exposure, those who served or labored aboard this vessel at any point in their career, as well as those who served on her sister ships, need to become well-informed about the dangers posed by wartime exposure to this deadly mineral, especially in light of Harding's record.

Sources:

Destroyers Index