USS Harry E. Hubbard DD-748

USS Harry E. Hubbard (DD-748), an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, was named as a tribute to Cmdr. Harry Hubbard (1903-1942), who went down with his ship during the Battle for Guadalcanal.

End Game and Occupation

Harry E. Hubbard was built by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at its Staten Island, New York, shipyard and launched on 24 March 1944. She was commissioned on 22 July 1944, under the captaincy of Cmdr. Leonard W. Bailey.

After a period of training pre-commissioning crews, Harry E. Hubbard sailed for Pearl Harbor on 16 January 1945. She served as a training ship until 17 April, then sailed for Okinawa. She arrived on 8 May 1945 to serve as a picket destroyer, monitoring for aerial raids. For nearly two months, Hubbard was among those destroyers that were the first line of defense against the desperate suicide attacks by kamikaze pilots.

Hubbard remained off Okinawa until 24 July 1945, then escorted occupation troops to former territories of the defeated Japanese Empire in Korea and northern China. She provided escort, mail and communication service for the occupation force until sailing for home in March 1946. She arrived at San Francisco after a 12-day voyage, underwent an overhaul at Oakland, then was decommissioned in San Diego on 15 January 1947.

Korean War

Harry E. Hubbard was reactivated on 27 October 1950 with Cmdr. Burres D. Wood in command. She left San Diego on 2 January 1951 for two months of crew training off Hawaii, then sailed to join the UN Forces in Korea. In addition to carrier screen duty, her bombardment missions included numerous enemy positions and supply areas. She returned to the California coast in October 1951 for overhaul and refit, followed by a second tour of duty with the 7th Fleet off the Korean coast from July to December 1952. She returned to San Diego in January 1953 but was ordered back on 11 July to protect the carriers charged with enforcing the cease-fire (the Korean conflict has never been officially "over"). This last Korean tour lasted until January 1954. She returned to port in San Diego for an overhaul and refresher training for her crew.

Cold War

Between 1954 and 1966, Hubbard did nine more Far East tours with the 7th Fleet. These included covering the evacuation of Chinese Nationalists from the Tachen Islands, an underwater nuclear test, and combined warfare exercises with SEATO Treaty forces in addition to periodic patrols of the Taiwan Straits. In June 1960, she provided defensive cover for Air Force One during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Far East tour.

Vietnam

When the Gulf of Tonkin Incident occurred in August 1964, Harry E. Hubbard in the South China Sea screening the carrier USS Ticonderoga. She returned to Long Beach on 28 October 1964 for a year of warfare readiness operations along the California coast. The following October, she sailed for the coast of South Vietnam. In company with the carrier USS Valley Forge she furnished gunfire support for amphibious landings during November and December 1965. In the months following, she screened the carriers USS Kitty Hawk and Hancock during operations in the South China Sea, served as Harbor Defense ship at Da Nang, and shelled several Viet Cong strongholds along the South Vietnamese coast.

Hubbard returned to Long Beach, California, in April 1966. The destroyer had drawn nationwide attention on 10 March 1966 when the ABC Television Network included scenes of one of her shore bombardments along the South Vietnamese coast - one of the dramatic images of the first war to be widely televised, leading the American people to start demanding U.S. withdrawal.

Hubbard's career ended with her decommissioning in October 1969. She was sold and scrapped the following year.

Asbestos Risks

On each U.S. Navy ship in the first seven decades of the 20th century, the fibrous mineral asbestos was commonly utilized for insulation and for fireproofing. Although essentially all sections of the USS Harry E. Hubbard presented a real danger of asbestos contamination, a vessel's boiler room and mechanical compartments were the workspaces where seamen or dockworkers were prone to be endangered by airborne asbestos. If the craft was damaged, whether in battle, by Mother Nature, or by accident, it almost inevitably exposed asbestos-contaminated fixtures to the air or subjected them to flames or flooding; this meant even more risk of high levels of asbestos contact.

The highest level of danger of harmful exposure associated with asbestos occurs in situations where products made from the mineral become damaged and easily broken, since if tiny asbestos microfibers escape into the air, the particles can then be inhaled by workers close to the asbestos. Research has shown that serious medical problems such as asbestosis, lung cancer and pericardial mesothelioma are linked to a high level of asbestos contact.

Workers with a history of contact with this substance should immediately notify their family doctors, as many asbestos-related disorders can be difficult to diagnose because the symptoms can be mistaken for those of 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.

As is the case with sailors on other vessels of this era, the men who served aboard the Hubbard were, along with the normal dangers associated with enemy encounters, endangered by asbestos inhalation. This was especially the case because, although the Hubbard suffered minimal combat damage, with her long time in service she underwent extensive renovations and repairs. On top of the large-scale combat refit work, sailors who served on the Hubbard were also subject to inhalation of asbestos in the daily conduct of their loyal service, as were repair personnel such as pipefitters and mechanics who worked on the craft when the ship was in port.

Considering the Hubbard's service record, and based on our increased understanding of the consequences of prolonged contact with asbestos, it is important that the troops who at any point in their career sailed or labored aboard this destroyer, as well as those who served on other naval vessels, learn about the health dangers posed by former exposure to this deadly fiber.

Sources:

Destroyers Index