USS J. Fred Talbott DD-156

The USS J. Fred Talbott (DD-156) was a Wickes-class destroyer built by William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Company in Philadelphia. She was launched on 14 December 1918 and received her commission on 30 June 1919 with Cmdr. T. G. Ellyson in command.

Early History

The Talbott departed from Newport, Rhode Island on 10 July 1919 for the Mediterranean during U.S. efforts to protect business interests in the region during the post-war years. She also provided humanitarian relief. Upon her return to the United States a year later, the ship engaged in routine patrols along the eastern seaboard, participating in periodic fleet exercises before being decommissioned on 18 January 1923.

However, Talbott was reactivated in May 1930. During the next decade, the ship operated along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean as her crews trained for anti-submarine warfare in addition to regular fleet operations, officer training and routine patrols.

World War II

With the outbreak of the war in Europe, Talbott was assigned patrol duties in the waters off the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal to enforce U.S. neutrality. Following America's entry into the war with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the ship took up convoy escort duties between New Orleans, Cuba and the Canal Zone, helping to protect the sea lanes for troop and supply convoys.

Following an overhaul in Boston in January 1944, the Talbott sailed with her first transatlantic convoy to North Africa. After her return, she took up escort duties for convoys between Iceland and the Caribbean. In September of that year, she was converted at the New York Navy Yard and reclassified AG-81. The ship was stationed at Port Everglades, Florida in November to serve as a practice target ship for torpedo bombers until the war's end.

The Talbott was decommissioned at Boston on 21 May 1946, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 19 June 1946, and sold for scrap to the Boston Metals Corporation of Baltimore, Maryland six months later.

Asbestos Risks

Through both world wars, every American navy craft routinely installed the substance known as asbestos for insulating pipes and for fireproofing. The vessel's boiler room and engineering sections usually were the areas where seamen or maintenance workers were most likely to come into contact with air contaminated with asbestos, but essentially all sections of the USS Talbott offered a real danger of asbestos exposure.

When a ship was damaged in battle, by catastrophic storms, or accidentally, it almost inevitably exposed asbestos-laden materials to the open air, which meant even greater risk of having high levels of asbestos inhalation. With asbestos, the greatest risk to human health is experienced whenever strands are fragile, because if minute asbestos filaments go into the surrounding air, the particles may then be inhaled by workers in the area.

Persistent asbestos intake has been conclusively linked with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, and many other life-threatening medical issues. Those workers and sailors whose duties put them near asbestos fibers should promptly inform their primary physicians since many asbestos-induced diseases can be puzzling to distinguish from other illnesses.

As with servicemen on other vessels of this era, the men who lived and worked on board the Talbott were constantly at risk for asbestos fiber inhalation. Regardless of the lack of important combat damage and redesign activity, those who served aboard the USS Talbott were nevertheless in danger of inhaling asbestos fibers in the normal course of their duties.

This was especially the case for maintenance workers such as pipe fitters and carpenters who worked on the craft when the Talbott spent time dry-docked. For servicemen who worked aboard this ship at any time in their career, as well as those who served on other naval vessels, it is vital to be thoroughly informed about the risks posed by past exposure to this toxic mineral.

For those who have contracted an illness related to asbestos exposure, compensation may be available to help pay for medical expenses and lost income. For information about compensation and treatment options, please fill out the request form on this page to receive a free informational packet.

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Destroyers Index