USS Waters DD-115

USS Waters (DD-115) was a Wickes-class destroyer built by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia and launched on 3 March 1918. She was commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 8 August of that year.

World War I and the Mezzo-bellum Years

Waters made two round-trip voyages across the Atlantic before the armistice in November 1918.

After the war came three years of activity, most of which were spent in the Far East during a time of civil unrest in China. With defense cutbacks called for by the armistice, she was put in reserve in 1923.

On 4 June 1930, following more than seven years of inactivity, Waters was recommissioned at San Diego and began operations along the west coast and Hawaii, except for a brief period in the Atlantic in the fall of 1934.

World War II

On 7 December 1941, Waters was in port at San Diego and still operating with the Sound School. The following day, she departed San Diego in the screen of carrier USS Saratoga, arriving at Pearl Harbor six days later. She returned to San Diego on 30 December.

After a month patrolling the California coast, Waters headed north for duty in the Pacific Northwest. For the next 10 months, the destroyer escorted supply ships from Seattle, Washington to and between the bases along the Alaskan coast and through the Aleutians chain.

The logistics of the island-war in the Pacific necessitated an increase in the number of high-speed transports, hybrid warships combining the functions of transports and of destroyers into one vessel. Aging, otherwise obsolete flushdeck destroyers such as Waters were the first ships to be used for this purpose. She entered the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington, on 19 December 1942 to begin conversion and later that month was redesignated APD-8. The conversion was completed by February 1943; Waters returned to San Diego on 10 February.

On 17 February, Waters sailed for the South Pacific and reported for duty with the South Pacific Amphibious Force at Noumea, New Caledonia, on 21 March. Her first assignment was to carry troops to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. For a year thereafter, she shuttled troops and supplies north to the invasions of various islands.

On 28 May 1944, Waters joined Task Force 51 for the invasion of Saipan and the Marianas.

She remained off Saipan until late June, escorting transports. Returning to Eniwetok Atoll on 17 July, she spent 11 days undergoing repairs before returning to the Marianas. Then on 22 August, she entered San Francisco for six weeks of repairs and modifications until 7 October.

On 10 February 1945, she got underway to join in the assault on Iwo Jima and Operation "Iceberg," the assault on Okinawa.

Waters' last combat action came on 24 June when she dropped a barrage of depth charges on an underwater sound contact. She made port at San Pedro, California, on 21 July and soon began an extensive overhaul at the Western Steel and Pipe Company. The war ended while she was still in the yard. In September, she was moved to Terminal Island, where she was decommissioned in October. A year short of 30, she was sold for scrapping in May 1946.

Asbestos Risks

Through WWII, each US Navy ship commonly employed the mineral asbestos for compartment insulation and as fireproofing. While practically all sections of a ship like the USS Waters offered a measurable level of asbestos risk, a Navy file or a shipyard worker was apt to be exposed to asbestos particles when in the workspaces around the vessel's engine room and mechanical compartments. Increased risk of experiencing high levels of asbestos contact occurred when a warship was damaged, whether in battle or through misfortune, because that often exposed asbestos-contaminated materials to the open air or subjected them to flames or flooding.

When dealing with asbestos, the highest level of danger to human health occurs whenever products made from the mineral become fragile; if the asbestos microfibers can enter the air, the particles can then be breathed in by workers near the exposure. Researchers have demonstrated that life-threatening health conditions such as asbestosis, lung cancer and peritoneal mesothelioma are caused by persistent asbestos ingestion.

Seamen who worked around this mineral should promptly notify their family doctors, since asbestos-induced conditions can be hard to accurately diagnose. 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.

As is the case with people on other destroyers of this type, the sailors who sailed on board the Waters were all too often imperiled by asbestos exposure even though the ship underwent relatively light damage in battle and numerous though mostly routine redesigns and patch jobs. Despite the lack of major battle damage and repair work, sailors who sailed aboard the Waters were still in danger of inhaling asbestos fibers in the conduct of their loyal service.

The chance of encountering asbestos was also high for repair personnel such as pipe fitters and mechanics who worked on the Waters whenever the destroyer was dry-docked. Given our increased understanding of the outcome of prolonged contact with asbestos, servicemen who lived and labored aboard this vessel at any point in their career, and those assigned to her sisters in the fleet, should be thoroughly informed about the hazards raised by their wartime exposure to this deadly mineral.

Sources:

Destroyers Index