USS Hovey DD-208

USS Hovey (DD-208/DMS-11) was a Clemson-class destroyer, launched on 26 April 1919 at the William Cramp and Sons shipyard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and commissioned 2 October 1919 under the command of Commander Stephen B. McKinney.

Early Service History, 1919-1940

Her first year in the water was spent operating in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In December 1920, she was ordered to the Asiatic Fleet for service in the Philippines. Hovey was stationed there until returning to San Francisco in October 1922.

After seven years in mothballs, Hovey was recommissioned in February 1930 at San Diego. After a brief shakedown cruise, she served as a training ship for reservists until ordered to the Atlantic in April 1934 for six months of training and fleet exercises off the Atlantic coast. Hovey returned to San Diego in November. After an overhaul at Mare Island near San Francisco, she resumed her west coast operations, participating in battle exercises periodically.

World War II

Hovey was converted into a high-speed minesweeper and reclassified DMS-11 in November 1940. After intensive crew training, she sailed for Pearl Harbor in early February 1941.

On the morning of 7 December 1941, Hovey was engaged in gunnery practice some 20 miles off the island of Oahu. The minesweeper took up patrol and convoy duty between Pearl Harbor and San Francisco Bay until sailing for the southwest Pacific on 10 July 1942. There she was assigned to Admiral Richmond K. Turner's Minesweeping Group of Rear South Pacific Amphibious Force 31.

The Solomons

During the invasion of Guadalcanal, the first amphibious assault in the long island-hopping campaign, Hovey was assigned a screening station for transport convoys in order to protect the vessels from enemy subs and torpedo boats, followed by a stint providing cover fire for the troop landings. Hovey continued her operations around Guadalcanal until April 1944.

After an assignment with the spearhead Fast Carrier Task Force on its mission to provide aircraft for the initial strikes on Truk, Hovey departed for the west coast for maintenance work, staying there until the end of July.

The Central Pacific Campaigns

In September 1944, Hovey sortied from Port Purvis in the Solomons as part of an antisubmarine screen. After mine sweeps in the area of Monkey Island in the Palaus, Hovey took up antisubmarine patrol until mid-October. She was then assigned to sweep mines for Rear Admiral Thomas Sprague's Escort Carrier Group in preparation for the invasion of Leyte in the Philippines.

The Invasion of Luzon

Hovey arrived in Leyte Gulf On 30 December 1944. On 2 January 1945, she sailed into the Mindanao Sea for the landings on Lingayen, Luzon. Many reconnaissance aircraft harassed the convoy during the night, but no attacks developed until morning of 3 January.

At 8:00 that morning, the minesweepers came under attack, and Hovey immediately shot down one kamikaze. As the ships made a return sweep, two kamikaze suicide pilots crashed into the other ships. Due to the explosions and air attacks, Hovey's crew could not get alongside the stricken vessels, but they were able to rescue 149 survivors.

Just before 5:00 AM on January 7, Hovey was struck by a torpedo on her starboard side in the aft engine room. The ship broke in half and rapidly sank, taking 48 crewmen (including survivors rescued a few days earlier) with her.

Asbestos Risks

On board every Navy vessel through the war era, the mineral asbestos was widely used for pipe insulation and as fireproofing. A vessel's engine room and mechanical spaces usually were the sections where sailors or a dockworker was most likely to come into contact with airborne asbestos; however, essentially all sections of the USS Hovey offered a significant level of asbestos contamination. If the vessel was damaged, whether in combat, by Mother Nature, or accidentally, it usually uncovered asbestos-containing materials to the open air or subjected them to fire or water, which brought about more risk of being subjected to extensive asbestos inhalation.

With asbestos, the highest level of risk to human health happens in circumstances where items containing the mineral deteriorate and become easily broken (or "friable"); if minute asbestos filaments escape into the air, the particles can then be inhaled by those in the area. Scientists have proven that serious health conditions such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma are caused by a high level of asbestos inhalation.

Workers exposed to this mineral should immediately notify their family doctors, since most asbestos-related disorders are puzzling 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 sailors on her sister vessels, the men who sailed on board the Hovey were, along with the normal hazards of combat, constantly imperiled by asbestos inhalation, particularly since the ship suffered heavy damage in battle and went through comprehensive renovations and overhauls. In addition to the important battle damage and repair work, those who worked aboard the Hovey were also subject to inhalation of asbestos in the daily conduct of their duty. This risk of asbestos contact also existed for maintenance workers such as welders and mechanics who serviced the Hovey when the vessel spent time dry-docked.

Considering the Hovey's service record, and in light of what we now know about the outcome of prolonged contact with asbestos, it is imperative that the troops who at any point in their career sailed or worked aboard this destroyer, and those assigned to other naval vessels, learn about the hazards raised by service-related exposure to asbestos fibers.

Sources:

Destroyers Index