USS Wadleigh DD-689

USS Wadleigh (DD-689) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, built in Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works and launched on 7 August 1943. She was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 19 October 1943 under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Walter C. Winn.

World War II

Wadleigh's baptism of fire came on 20 March 1944 during the Marshall Islands campaign. Assigned shore-bombardment duties, Wadleigh expended 478 rounds of five-inch shells. Three days later, the new destroyer again took part in neutralizing enemy defenses, shelling a weather station and a radio station on Ebon Island and helping to clear the way for the 1,500 marines who took the island.

Wadleigh then returned to the Hawaiian Islands for further operational training in preparation for the upcoming conquest of the Marianas. She arrived off Roi Island in the Marshalls on 10 June, five days before the invasion of Saipan Island. During the latter days of the campaign, Wadleigh shot enemy snipers out of caves, trees, and cliffs while picking up occasional POWs and rescuing downed American aircrews.

While on minesweeping duty during the invasion of the Palaus in September 1944, Wadleigh brushed horns with an unswept mine that burst amidships. The explosion ripped into the bowels of the ship, killing three men and injuring 20, flooding three engineering compartments and one living space. As the crew raced to general quarters, the ship settled five feet by the stern and listed seven degrees to starboard. Wadleigh - now sporting a 40-foot rent in her bottom - came to an even keel as the crew manhandled all moveable weight from starboard to port to correct the list.

The damaged vessel was ultimately able to make her way home to the Mare Island Navy Yard near San Francisco, but her injuries were so extensive that she had to be rebuilt virtually from the keel up. Including speed trials and post-repair shakedown, Wadleigh was out of action until April 1945.

Wadleigh rejoined her old unit in May. After serving several tours on radar picket stations with the Fleet, Wadleigh weathered heavy typhoons from 5 to 7 June and returned to her combat assignments.

On 10 August, excessive turbine vibrations forced the ship to shut down her starboard engine. Detached from the task force, Wadleigh limped back to Ulithi Atoll for repairs. News of the Japanese capitulation arrived during the voyage.

Post-war

Departing Ulithi on 23 August, Wadleigh remained in Japanese waters on occupation duty until 20 October. Arriving in San Francisco Bay on 5 November 1945, she underwent a pre-deactivation overhaul then sailed for San Diego for inactivation. She was decommissioned in January 1947 and remained in reserve until she was reactivated for the Korean conflict on 3 October 1951.

The 1950s

In the late summer of 1952, Wadleigh underwent an overhaul at the Boston Naval Shipyard during which she received a weapons upgrade.

On 3 May 1954, Wadleigh departed for the Western Pacific, arriving at Yokosuka, Japan, on 7 June. She patrolled the waters off the east coast of Korea, assisting in the supervision of the armistice agreement a year earlier. While en route to Formosa on a different mission, the ship struck an underwater object that inflicted minor damage to both screws. She proceeded to Subic Bay, the damage was repaired, and she soon returned to duty.

Wadleigh returned home on 28 November 1954. Over the next several years, she operated in the Atlantic, with periodic assignments to the Caribbean.

Wadleigh was decommissioned and placed in reserve on 28 June 1962.

El Blanco Encalada

Wadleigh was transferred to Chile under the Military Aid Program in 1963 and renamed Blanco Encalada (DD14). She served in the Chilean Navy until being scrapped in 1983.

Asbestos Risks

Through both world wars, each American navy ship widely employed asbestos for insulation and as fire control. Asbestos was commonly used for insulation and for fire control aboard each Navy vessel through the 1960s. The engines and mechanical compartments were generally the spaces where crewmen or a dockworker was most likely to be exposed to fibers of asbestos; however, nearly every section of a ship like the USS Wadleigh presented a significant level of asbestos contamination. If the craft was damaged in combat, 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 risk of undergoing high levels of asbestos contact.

With asbestos, the worst risk to human health is experienced in situations where fibers are exposed, tiny asbestos particles are released into the surrounding air, and the particles are then inhaled by those nearby. Significant asbestos proximity is conclusively linked with multiple forms of mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer and many other serious health problems.

Because most asbestos-related diseases are tricky to diagnose (the symptoms can be mistaken for those of other illnesses), those who worked around this mineral should notify their doctors of this history. To learn more about the diagnostic process, available treatment options and financial assistance to help pay for medical costs, please fill in the form on this page to receive a comprehensive packet in the mail.

It is one of the tragic realities of the Second World War that in addition to the expected dangers associated with war, those who lived and worked on board the Wadleigh were, like servicemen on her sister vessels, frequently imperiled by asbestos inhalation. This was particularly the case since the Wadleigh absorbed heavy damage in battle and went through extensive renovations and patch jobs. On top of this large-scale combat damage and retrofit activity, sailors who lived and worked on the ship were often exposed to asbestos in the conduct of their duty.

This danger also existed for repair personnel such as machinists and carpenters who maintained the ship when the ship was dry-docked. Considering the Wadleigh's service record, and based on our increased understanding of the outcome of asbestos inhalation, it is important that those who at any point in their career lived or toiled aboard the Wadleigh, and those assigned to other naval vessels, find out about the hazards raised by wartime exposure to this deadly fiber.

Sources:

1. Mooney, James. Dictionary of American Fighting Ships. (Washington DC; Department of the Navy, 1991).
2. National Association of Destroyer Veterans. Tin Can Sailors (web site).

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