USS Hobby DD-610

USS Hobby (DD-610) was a Benson-class destroyer built by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at the company's shipyard in San Francisco, California. Launched on 4 June 1942, she was commissioned on18 November 1942, Lt Cmdr. Ernest Blake in command serving as the vessel's first captain.

Service Record

After her shakedown cruise off the California coast, Hobby reported to New York City on 12 February 1943, to begin transatlantic convoy duty. Over the course of five voyages to North Africa, Hobby identified several German submarines and severely damaged at least one of them.

Hobby was ordered to the Pacific on January 1944. Until mid-August she was charged with furnishing fire support and guard duty during several invasion operations in the Admiralty and Schouten Islands near New Guinea. Sailing north in September, Hobby continued these duties during the Peleliu and Ngesebus island invasions. Despite frequent contacts with Japanese aircraft, Hobby and her crew managed to remain unscathed.

On 10 December, Hobby joined the spearhead Fast Carrier Task Force for strikes on Luzon. She remained with this force as it slowly moved north toward the home islands of Japan. On 16 February, Hobby screened the carriers of the 5th Fleet as they carried out the first air strikes against Tokyo since the Doolittle Raid nearly three years earlier, then proceeded to guard the oilers charged with keeping the fleet's fuel tanks full through the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. At the end of June, Hobby was due for repairs and refits, requiring the services of a U.S. dry dock. She arrived in Seattle on 17 July 1945 for overhaul. During the repairs, the Empire of Japan finally fell and her military government capitulated.

Hobby sailed to New York on 6 October for Navy Day, after which she reported to the Charleston, South Carolina, NB on 1 November 1945. Hobby was decommissioned there and was put in mothballs on 1 February 1946. A year later, Hobby was moved to Orange, Texas, where she lay moored for the next quarter-century.

The USS Hobby was scuttled in 1972 during target practice.

Asbestos Risks

Asbestos was widely utilized for insulation and for fireproofing on board each US Navy ship through both world wars. Each ship's boilers and engineering compartments were the spaces where crewmen or shipyard workers were most likely to be exposed to fibers of asbestos, but practically all parts of the Hobby offered a measurable level of asbestos contamination. Whenever the craft was damaged in combat, by severe weather, or accidentally, it usually exposed asbestos-contaminated materials to the air or subjected them to flames or flooding. This meant additional danger of being subjected to high levels of asbestos inhalation.

With asbestos, the worst risk of harmful exposure happens when products made from the mineral deteriorate and become easily broken, because when very small asbestos filaments are released into the surrounding air, the particles can then be breathed in by those in the area. A history of asbestos intake has been thoroughly linked to malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis, cancer of the lungs and many other serious health problems.

Because asbestos-induced conditions can be tricky to detect, workers who were exposed to this substance should promptly inform their health care providers of 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.

As is the case with sailors on the other craft of her era, the crewmen who served on board the Hobby were endangered by asbestos fiber exposure even though the ship endured only light damage in battle and had regular redesigns and repair jobs. Regardless of the absence of major combat damage and refit work, the men who sailed aboard the Hobby were still exposed to asbestos in the normal course of their service. Moreover, this was particularly true for maintenance workers such as machinists and carpenters who serviced the craft when the Hobby was dry-docked.

In light of what we now know about the consequences of prolonged contact with asbestos, those who served and toiled on board this naval vessel at any time in their career, as well as those who served on similar ships, must educate themselves about the hazards raised by wartime exposure to asbestos fibers.

Sources:

Destroyers Index