USS Wainwright DD-419

USS Wainwright (DD-419) was a Sims-class destroyer built at the Norfolk Navy Yard and launched on 1 June 1939. She was commissioned on 15 April 1940, Lt. Cmdr. Thomas L. Lewis in command.

War Record

Following her shakedown, Wainwright began duty with the Atlantic Fleet in conjunction with the Neutrality Patrol, which had been established soon after World War II broke out in Europe early in September 1939. Just before the opening of hostilities between Japan and the United States, on 10 November, Wainwright embarked with an American ship convoy transporting British and Commonwealth troops around Cape of Good Hope to Basra (Iraq) in the Middle East. At Cape Town, South Africa, the convoy was to be turned over to the Royal Navy and the U.S. destroyers were to turn around and head home.

The convoy reached Cape Town on 9 December 1941, two days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and two days before Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The escorting American destroyers headed home on war footing as full-fledged belligerents.

Upon her return to the States, Wainwright resumed her patrols until mid-March 1942, when the warship received orders to join the British Home Fleet as part of a joint Allied naval force. The US contingent reached the Royal Naval base in the Orkney Islands on 3 April.

Until the fall of 1942, Wainwright participated in convoy operations between Iceland, the Orkneys, and northern Russia. During this period, she had frequent run-ins with aircraft of the Luftwaffe and with Kriegsmarine U-boats.

In October 1942, Wainwright was assigned to the four-destroyer screen of Task Group 34.1 (consisting of four destroyers, two cruisers, and a battleship) for the invasion of French Morocco. The task force arrived on 7 November.

For the next three days, Wainwright remained off the Moroccan coast supporting the invasion. Following the surrender of the Vichy French on 12 November, Wainwright sailed for home, arriving in New York on the 21st. While in port, she underwent a two-week maintenance period.

For the next six months, Wainwright protected merchant marine ships making on their way to North African ports. When not engaged in Atlantic convoy duty, she trained with other ships of the Atlantic Fleet and underwent brief repairs in various American ports.

During the late summer and early fall of 1943, Wainwright covered the invasion of Sicily, following Patton's 5th Army across the northern Sicilian coast and up the Italian peninsula, providing cover fire. She resumed convoy duty in late October. At the beginning of 1944, she provided support for the troops attempting to break out of the beachheads at Anzio and Nettuno on the Italian mainland. In early February, she received orders to return to the United States. Arriving at New York on 12 February, she entered the navy yard for a three-week overhaul. When she came out in March, Wainwright began 13 months of escort and training duty along the Atlantic coast.

In April 1945, Wainwright was ordered to the Pacific. Reaching Ulithi on 13 June, she spent the next two months sailing between various islands in the area. On 12 August, she departed for the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska. She steamed into Adak, Alaska on 19 August, at which time the conflict had ended. She remained there until the last day of the month, when she got underway for the former Imperial Japanese Naval Base of Ominato Ko on 12 September for a six-week tour of duty in support of the occupation forces.

Aftermath

Wainwright arrived in San Diego on 16 December 1945. In the spring of 1946, she was designated a target ship for the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll that summer. She survived both blasts and remained at Bikini for almost two years under intermittent inspection by scientists. Finally, she was towed out to sea in July 1948 and sunk as a target.

Asbestos Risks

On board every American navy ship in the first seven decades of the 20th century, the substance known as asbestos was routinely utilized for insulating pipes and for fire control. Although practically every section of a ship like the USS Wainwright offered a measurable level of asbestos exposure, each ship's boiler room and engineering sections were the workspaces where seamen or shipyard workers were most likely to be at risk of exposure to asbestos fibers. If a ship was damaged, whether due to enemy fire, by Mother Nature, or by accident, it often exposed asbestos-laden components to the air or subjected them to fire or water; this brought about more risk of having high levels of asbestos exposure.

With asbestos, the greatest danger of exposure happens when products made from the mineral are easily broken, because when tiny asbestos fibers can enter the air, the material can then be inhaled by workers close to the asbestos. Persistent asbestos inhalation is known to be thoroughly associated with malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer and many other grave medical conditions.

Since most asbestos-related diseases are puzzling to distinguish from other illnesses, naval veterans who were exposed to this mineral should immediately inform their physicians of the details about 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 a sad fact that on top of the expected dangers of war, servicemen who sailed on board the Wainwright were, as with servicemen on the other craft of her type, frequently at risk for asbestos exposure. This was the case in spite of the fact the Wainwright endured mostly moderate battle damage and required relatively light refits and repairs. Despite the lack of significant combat damage and redesign activity, sailors who sailed on board this ship were nevertheless exposed to asbestos in the ordinary course of their duty.

Asbestos exposure was also commonplace for maintenance workers such as machinists and electricians who repaired the destroyer whenever she spent time in port. For the men who sailed or labored aboard this destroyer at any point in their career, and those assigned to other Navy ships, it is very important to become well informed about the risks posed by past exposure to asbestos, especially in light of what we now know about the consequences of asbestos exposure.

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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