USS Russell DD-414

USS Russell (DD-414) was a Sims-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy during the Second World War. She was laid down on 20 December 1937 by Northrop Grumman and launched on 8 December 1938. The vessel was commissioned on 3 November 1939 under command of Lt. Cmdr. J. C. Pollock.

Service History

Russell patrolled the western Atlantic and Caribbean with the Neutrality Patrol, monitoring the movement of Axis shipping until the United States entered the war in December of 1941. She was then ordered to the Pacific.

On 6 January 1942, Russell sailed out of San Diego, escorting troop transports to Samoa. By the time she arrived two weeks later, the Japanese had moved into British Malaya, Borneo, the Celebes and Gilbert Islands, and the Bismarck Archipelago. Within the week, the Japanese Empire encompassed New Ireland and the Solomons as well as the Netherlands East Indies.

For the next year, Russell's crew was kept busy covering carriers through a number of intense campaigns, including the Battle of the Coral Sea; she took aboard a large number of survivors from the stricken carriers lost in that action.

In December 1942 and January 1943, she screened convoys to Guadalcanal and Tulagi, as well as to Rennell, before resuming her escort duties between Australia and the war zone.

On 1 May 1943, Russel was ordered to Mare Island near San Francisco for an overhaul. The worked was completed in July, after which she sailed north for the Aleutians. With the arrival of autumn and the impending Alaskan winter, she turned south to escort landing craft to Hawaii.

In October, she returned to the South Pacific for carrier screen and troop transport duties, operating with units of Task Force 50. In late November, she sailed to the Marshall Islands with her task group to support carrier raids on Kwajalein and Wotje. After this operation, the task group returned to Pearl; Russell went on to California.

Russell returned to the Marshalls in late January 1944 and took up position on the gunline off Kwajalein as Allied forces continued their attempts to dislodge the IJA. In mid-February, she sailed for the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington, for much-needed maintenance and repairs.

Repairs completed in March, Russell reported to Pearl Harbor in early April. On 6 May, she began five months of intensive and hazardous escort duty along the New Guinea coast. Assigned initially to escort LSTs (large cargo vessels capable of landing tanks and other heavy vehicles on a beach), she joined Task Force 77.

Her duties over the next eight months culminated in the invasion of the Maluku Islands and occupation of Morotai, the last stepping-stone on the southern route to the Philippines. On 13 October, Russell sailed with TF 78 for the Philippines, serving in combat actions until February 1945.

End Game

Russell arrived at Guadalcanal on 15 February 1945 and rejoined the 5th Fleet for Operation "Iceberg," the invasion of Okinawa. On 1 April, she arrived off the assault beaches and commenced screening (providing protection for) carriers and transport vessels. In late May, she got underway for the United States and a yard overhaul.

Fate

The USS Russell was still undergoing overhaul at Seattle, Washington, when the war ended. She was decommissioned on 15 November and ultimately sold for scrap to the National Metal and Steel Corporation in Los Angeles, California, in 1947.

Asbestos Risks

The fibrous mineral asbestos was routinely used for insulating pipes and as fireproofing on every Navy ship in the first seven decades of the 20th century. Though practically all compartments of the Russell offered a real danger of asbestos exposure, the ship's boiler room and mechanical compartments were generally the workspaces where a Navy file or maintenance workers were likely to inhale asbestos fibers. If a craft took damage, whether due to enemy fire, by severe weather, or through misfortune, it usually exposed asbestos-containing components to the open air or subjected them to fire or flooding; this meant further danger of experiencing high levels of asbestos contact.

With asbestos, the most serious risk of exposure occurs in situations where products made from the mineral deteriorate and become fragile; if tiny asbestos filaments are released into the air, the particles can then be breathed in by those nearby. Historically, asbestos inhalation is known to be a causative factor linked to pleural mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer and many other major health disorders.

Therefore, those with a history of exposure to this substance should promptly notify their health care providers, as many asbestos-related problems are difficult to detect. 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.

Like servicemen on the other destroyers of the same era, servicemen who fought aboard the Russell were all too often, on top of the expected hazards of battle, in danger of asbestos exposure. This was particularly true since the destroyer saw substantial wear and tear (though little combat damage) and underwent extensive reworkings and repair jobs. On top of this redesign and overhaul work, the troops who served on board the Russell were also exposed to asbestos fibers in the ordinary course of their duties.

In addition, asbestos exposure was a daily occurrence for port-based workers such as welders and carpenters who maintained the vessel whenever she spent time dry-docked. Considering the Russell's record, and based on what we now know about the consequences of asbestos exposure, it is important that servicemen who at any time in their career sailed or labored aboard this ship, as well as those who served on similar ships, learn about the dangers posed by former exposure to asbestos.

Sources:

Destroyers Index