USS Rooks DD-804

USS Rooks (DD-804) was a Fletcher-class destroyer named for Captain Albert H. Rooks (1891-1942), who was killed early in the war during the Battle of Sunda Strait.

Rooks' keel was laid down on 27 October 1943 at the Todd Pacific Shipyards of Seattle, Washington. She was launched on 6 June 1944 and commissioned on 2 September 1944.

World War II

Rooks reported to Pearl Harbor late in 1944 for amphibious landing rehearsals and shore bombardment exercises. On 22 January 1945, she got under way in company with a flotilla of LSTs - huge vessels capable of carrying tanks, jeeps and other heavy equipment and landing them directly on the beach - for the Marshall Islands and Saipan, where additional training was carried out in preparation for the invasion of Iwo Jima.

On the first day of the Iwo Jima operation, 19 February 1945, Rooks sent her LSTs to the beach; she then assumed various duties over the remainder of the month, the most dangerous of which was radar picket. This consisted of monitoring the radar for incoming attacks from aircraft and/or submarines. Such duty made the vessel a prime target.

Rooks arrived at Okinawa on 1 April 1945, beginning almost three months of shore bombardment. During this period she went to general quarters 131 times, and was the direct target of kamikaze attack on four occasions. Her gunnery crew was credited with shooting down six enemy aircraft during the battle of Okinawa.

Following the war, Rooks remained in Japanese waters for two months before departing for home, arriving in San Francisco on 10 November. On 15 November 1945, Rooks reported to the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Bremerton, Washington, and was decommissioned; she was put in mothballs the following August.

Korea and the Cold War

Rooks was reactivated in San Diego on 19 May 1951. After a year in the Atlantic spent in antisubmarine warfare training, Rooks was ordered to Korea as escort and plane guard for the fast carrier task force, TF 77, and the U.N. Blockade and Escort Force. She was most active in shore bombardment against the North Korean ports of Songjin, Wonsan, and Chongjin. In February 1953 she sailed for Newport, Rhode Island, via the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and North Atlantic, completing her circumnavigation of the globe two months later. In mid-1954, Rooks underwent a major overhaul in preparation for deployment to the Mediterranean from September of that year to February 1955. Upon her return to the United States she served as training ship for the students of the Gunnery School.

The next several years consisted of routine training and exercises that took her from the Caribbean to the Arabian Sea. Rooks continued to operate with the Atlantic Fleet until July 1962, when she was loaned to Chile under the Military Assistance Program.

BACH Cochrane

Serving in the Armada de Chile as the BACH Cochrane, the destroyer sailed for 20 more years before she was stricken and broken up for scrap in 1983.

Asbestos Risks

Asbestos was routinely used for insulating pipes and as fire control aboard each American naval vessel through both world wars, with a vessel's boilers and mechanical sections usually being where sailors or a shipyard worker was likely to inhale airborne asbestos. However, nearly all sections of a ship like the Rooks presented a measurable level of asbestos exposure. Whenever the warship was hit in combat, by catastrophic storms, or by accident, it almost inevitably exposed asbestos-laden fixtures to the open air or subjected them to flames or water. This brought about more risk of having high levels of asbestos inhalation.

The most serious risk of harmful exposure associated with asbestos occurs in circumstances where items containing the mineral are easily broken (or "friable"); if tiny asbestos strands escape into the air, the particles can then be inhaled by those near the exposure. Historically, asbestos risk is known to be a causative factor associated with several types of mesothelioma, asbestosis, cancer of the lungs and many other health problems.

Since many asbestos-induced conditions are difficult to diagnose because the symptoms can be mistaken for those of other illnesses, sailors and dockworkers exposed to asbestos fibers should make a point to notify their primary physicians of this history. 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 expected dangers associated with war, sailors who fought aboard the Rooks were, as were sailors on other vessels of the same class, constantly at risk for asbestos fiber inhalation. This was true in spite of the fact the Rooks saw remarkably little combat damage and underwent mostly routine refits and repair jobs. Despite the lack of large-scale battle damage and redesign work, the men who lived and worked on this ship were nevertheless in danger of inhaling asbestos in the normal course of their duties.

The chance of encountering asbestos was also high for repair personnel such as pipe fitters and electricians who worked on the Rooks when the ship spent time at a shipyard. For the men who sailed or worked aboard this destroyer at any time in their career, as well as those who served on her sisters in the fleet, it is urgent to become fully aware of the hazards raised by their former exposure to asbestos, especially in light of what we now know about the outcome of prolonged contact with asbestos.

Sources:

Destroyers Index