USS Kane DD-235

The USS Kane (DD-235) was laid down on 3 July 1918 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation and launched on 12 August 1919. She was a destroyer in the Clemson class and was named for Elisha Kent Kane.

History of Service

The Kane was commissioned on 11 June 1920 and departed Newport for her shakedown cruise on 20 August. She sailed to Gibraltar, Brest, Copenhagen, Danzig, and then to the Gulf of Riga. She was damaged on this maiden voyage when on 1 October 1920, she encountered a mine just outside of the Baltic Sea during World War I. The mine exploded, bending both her port engine shafts and propeller struts. She was forced to repair at Landskrona, Sweden and then sailed on to Chatham, England where she was overhauled. The Kane did not sail again until 21 May 1921.

On 22 June, she rescued an Italian torpedo boat adrift near Cape Spartivento. During the next month, she performed relief work near Turkey and then in Asia Minor. The Kane transported medical supplies, relief workers and refugees to the Eastern Mediterranean. She then spent five years operating between the U.S. east coast and the Caribbean. In 1927, she patrolled the coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua. She was decommissioned on 31 December 1930.

The Kane was recommissioned on 1 April 1932 and left the U.S. on 17 August 1936 for Spain. On 30 August, a plane began to drop bombs around the Kane and in response, she opened fire, driving off the attack. The Kane rescued hundreds of people from the civil war in Spain, transporting them to France. She returned to the U.S. and was decommissioned again on 28 April 1938.

The Kane was recommissioned on 23 September 1939 and after extensive patrol duty went to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for overhaul until 3 March 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Kane traveled to Alaska to escort troops patrol for inter-island convoys and submarines. After the SS Arcata was torpedoed on 11 June, the Kane rescued 11 survivors. On 3 August 1942, she was attacked by enemy high-altitude bombers, but was not hit. After more patrol and escort duty, she returned to Washington State and was converted to a high-speed transport and left 3 April 1943 for California.

The Kane participated in the recapture of Attu in the Aleutian Islands, served as medical supply shuttle and hospital transport, assisted in the 18 January capture of the Marshall Islands, and worked as escort screen for amphibious landing ships invading New Guinea, Admiralty Islands, Aitape, Ali Island and Solomon Islands.

The Kane assisted the Marine landing at Saipan on 15 June 1944 and supported demolition operations nearby. On 23 June, an aerial bomb was dropped near her and she received shrapnel with three of her crew wounded. On 24 July, the Kane was barely missed by an attack of enemy mortar fire. She went to transport explosives that would be used to clear enemy defenses for the Leyte Invasion of 20 October. After transporting a demolition team, she returned to California for an overhaul on 4 December.

In April 1945, she traveled to Hawaii to help train a demolition team. In May, she traveled to Kerama Retto, escorted the hospital Solace out of the combat zone, patrolled, and fought off two kamikaze planes. In Leyte on July 4, she became part of the Philippine Sea Frontier, patrolling shipping lanes and guarding against submarines. Escorting troops to the Korean peninsula, the Kane left Leyte on 13 September. She then acted in an unofficial capacity as communications handler and receiving ship for the representative of the 7th Amphibious Force in Jinsen.

The Fate of the Kane

The Kane was relieved of her duty on 12 November 1945 and headed for home, arriving at San Diego on 13 December 1945. After 149 sailors disembarked, returning from wartime service, she then transited the Panama Canal en route to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was decommissioned there on 24 January 1946 and was sold for scrap on 21 June 1946 to the Northern Metals Company of Philadelphia.

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 Kane 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 Kane 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 Kane 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 Kane 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.

Sources:

Destroyers Index