USS Hugh W. Hadley DD-774

USS Hugh W. Hadley (DD-774) was an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, built and launched by Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding Company at its San Pedro, California, shipyard. She first sailed on 16 July 1944. She was commissioned on 25 November of that year, with Cmdr. L. C. Chamberlin serving has ship's master.

Service Record

After shakedown cruise and crew training off the coast of California, Hugh W. Hadley sailed in February 1945 with the British escort carrier HMS Ranee for Pearl Harbor. From Pearl, Hadley proceeded to the staging area at Ulithi Atoll for the invasion of Okinawa.

Arriving off the Okinawa island chain on 31 March 1945, Hugh W. Hadley led a group of amphibious landing craft toward the beach. Once troops and materiel had been safely unloaded, she took up antisubmarine patrol station outside the transport area. Hadley remained on patrol until 4 April, then escorted a group of transports to Saipan.

Hadley returned to Okinawa on the 27th. She was assigned radar picket duty on the afternoon of 10 May, making her a priority target for kamikaze pilots. The following morning, Hadley and the destroyer with which she was operating were attacked by 150 planes. By 9 a.m., the other ship, USS Evans, had taken several serious hits and was put out of action. The crew of Hugh W. Hadley fought on alone. During the battler, she sustained severe damage, but her crew had succeeded in downing some 23 enemy aircraft.

After temporary repairs, the ship was taken to the former IJN base at Kerama Retto, then Buckner Bay, Okinawa, where she went into a floating dry dock towed by USS Avoycl. After 20 days of repair work, she was towed home, arriving at Hunter's Point, California, on 26 September 1945. Decommissioned in December, she was sold two years later to San Francisco scrap metal firm Walter W. Johnson Company.

Asbestos Risks

In the first seven decades of the 20th century, every U.S. Navy craft commonly installed the fibrous mineral asbestos for insulating compartments and as fireproofing. Practically all parts of a ship such as the USS Hugh W. Hadley presented at least some asbestos risk, but the boiler room and engineering compartments were usually the workspaces where seamen or repair personnel were most prone to inhale airborne asbestos. If the vessel took damage, whether in battle, by severe weather, or accidentally, it frequently exposed asbestos-containing materials to the open air or subjected them to fire or flooding, which resulted in even more risk of having major asbestos inhalation.

When dealing with asbestos, the greatest hazard to human health is experienced whenever products made from the mineral are fragile, because when tiny asbestos strands escape into the surrounding air, the material may then be inhaled by those close to the asbestos. Occupational asbestos inhalation is strongly linked with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer and many other serious health disorders. As most asbestos-induced diseases are difficult to accurately diagnose, those with a history of exposure to asbestos fibers should promptly notify their family doctors of the details about this history.

One of the unfortunate realities of World War II was that along with the normal hazards of combat, sailors who lived and worked on board the Hadley were, as with sailors on her sister vessels, constantly at risk for asbestos inhalation. This was particularly true since the vessel endured heavy combat damage underwent serious refits and repair jobs. But even on top of the important combat damage and retrofit activity, those who served on the Hadley were also in contact with asbestos fibers in the daily conduct of their service, as were maintenance workers such as welders and carpenters who serviced the craft when the ship spent time in port.

In light of our increased understanding of the consequences of prolonged contact with asbestos, the troops who lived or worked aboard this destroyer at any point in their career, as well as those who served on her sister ships, need to learn more about the dangers posed by their service-related exposure to this deadly fiber, particularly in light of vessel's service record.

Sources:

Destroyers Index