USS Remey DD-688

USS Remey (DD-688) was one of 175 Fletcher-class destroyers built for the United States Navy during the Second World War to replace aging flush-deck, four-stackers, many of which were still in operation at the time. Remey was built by union steelworkers at the Bath Iron Works Corporation in Bath, Maine, and launched on 25 July 1943. She was commissioned on 30 September 1943 under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Reid P. Fiala.

Marshall Islands

After training with the 4th Marine Division, Remey sailed to join the invasion of the Marshall Islands in mid-January 1944. On 5 February, Remey struck an uncharted reef, requiring her to return to Pearl Harbor for repairs.

Mariana Islands

Following repairs, Remey spent time escorting submarines and other vessels between San Francisco and Pearl. On 31 May, Remey received orders for the Mariana Islands to provide fire support for landing troops. She remained there until the end of July.

On 8 August, Remey got underway for the Solomon Islands, where Task Force 32 was training for the assault on the Palaus. Following the successful conclusion of the Palaus operation, she sailed south to prepare for the invasion of the Philippines.

The Philippines and the End Game

From October 1944 until February 1945, the Remey was heavily involved in most of the actions of the Philippines campaign, coming under a great deal of enemy fire on several occasions. Amazingly, she emerged from the campaign relatively unscathed.

On 10 February 1945, she joined a detachment of the Fast Carrier Force for the invasion of the Japanese home islands. Remey participated in the bombardment of several Japanese positions and industrial facilities, even on Honshu itself, until 9 August.

On the 10th, Remey and her squadron were ordered north for an anti-shipping sweep that took her in an arc across the North Pacific from the Kuril Islands to the Gulf of Alaska. Sailing in the Aleutians on the 14th, she received word of the Japanese surrender and was ordered to return to northern Japan for occupation duty in the Ominato area. Remey remained in Japanese waters until 15 September, when she got underway for San Francisco.

Remey was decommissioned in December 1946 and berthed at San Diego until ordered activated with the outbreak of hostilities in Korea.

Korea

Recommissioned in November 1951, Remey was ordered to join the Atlantic Fleet. During the fall of 1953, she was deployed briefly to European waters for joint operations with the Royal Navy followed by fleet exercises in the Mediterranean. Six months after her return to Newport, she sailed for the Pacific. Between June and September 1954, she operated from Korea and Japan to the Philippines before departing for home by sailing westward, completing her circumnavigation of the globe on 28 November 1954.

Cold War tensions kept the USS Remey occupied in the Atlantic and the eastern Mediterranean for the next nine years, but the vessel never again engaged in direct combat with enemy ships. She was decommissioned on 30 December 1963 and was berthed as a unit of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

Remey was finally stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December 1974 and sold for scrap 18 months later.

Asbestos Risks

Asbestos was widely utilized for insulating compartments and for fireproofing in every American navy destroyer through WWII. Although a vessel's boilers and engineering sections generally were the sections where sailors or repair personnel were prone to be at risk of exposure to air contaminated with asbestos, essentially all parts of the Remey offered at least some asbestos exposure. If a warship was damaged, whether due to enemy fire, by catastrophic storms, or through misfortune, it frequently uncovered asbestos-laden fixtures to the air or subjected them to fire or water; this brought about additional danger of undergoing major asbestos contact.

The most serious danger of harmful exposure when dealing with asbestos occurs in circumstances where items containing the mineral become damaged and fragile, since if minute asbestos microfibers escape into the air, the particles may then be breathed in by those near the exposure. Occupational asbestos proximity is extensively linked with multiple forms of mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer and many other serious medical problems.

Naval veterans who were exposed to this mineral should therefore definitely tell their medical professionals, as most asbestos-induced disorders can be tricky to diagnose because the symptoms can be mistaken for those of other illnesses. 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.

Along with the inherent hazards of combat, sailors who served on board the Remey were, as were people on the other destroyers of the same type, frequently endangered by asbestos inhalation even though the ship saw surprisingly little damage in combat and required mostly routine renovations and repair jobs. Despite the absence of important damage and redesign activity, those who worked aboard the Remey were still endangered by asbestos in the ordinary conduct of their service. Moreover, the chance of encountering asbestos was also high for maintenance workers such as pipe fitters and carpenters who repaired this naval vessel whenever she was in port.

Given what we now know about the result of asbestos inhalation, the men who sailed or worked aboard this destroyer at any time in their career, as well as those who served on other naval vessels, should become fully aware of the hazards raised by their former exposure to asbestos.

Sources:

Destroyers Index