USS Wedderburn DD-684

USS Wedderburn (DD-684) was a Fletcher-class destroyer built by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at its San Francisco shipyard and launched on 1 August 1943.

World War II

Wedderburn departed San Francisco on 21 June 1944 for the second assault of the Marianas operation, the battle of Guam, arriving on 22 July and remaining as part of the antisubmarine screen until 10 August.

Carrier screening in the region occupied the next several weeks as naval aircraft made strikes on Formosa (Taiwan), Saipan, and Okinawa. She continued to guard the fast carriers during their air support for the invasion of the Philippines until 5 November, when engine trouble forced her to set a course for the U.S. naval base at Ulithi.

Wedderburn rode out the monumental typhoon of December 1944, suffering only minor damage. Resuming operations on 30 December 1944, she continued to guard the carriers during the Luzon invasion at Lingayen and on to the first strikes at the Japanese home islands. For the remainder of World War II, she screened various task groups of the Fast Carrier Force during the Okinawa operation and through the end of the war.

Wedderburn served with the occupation forces until 31 October, when she headed back to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, for voyage repairs.

In August 1946, Wedderburn began training naval reservists out of San Diego until returning to full active status in November 1950.

Korea

On 18 June 1950, Wedderburn departed San Diego for her first tour of duty in Korea. Her primary duties consisted of blockading the coastline of Korea and providing gunfire support for the United Nations troops. She concluded her first tour of duty in February 1952.

After an overhaul at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, Wedderburn headed back to Korea in August. Once again, she divided her time between blockading and gunfire support missions along the Korean coast and carrier escort duty. She returned to San Diego in March 1953.

Vietnam

In the decade between 1954 and 1964, Wedderburn continued to alternate deployments to the western Pacific with tours of duty along the coast of southern California. On 5 August 1964, following the Gulf of Tonkin incident, she operated off the Vietnamese coast as a carrier escort, providing gunfire support for units in the Mekong Delta.

After a period in the eastern Pacific, Wedderburn returned to the Vietnam combat zone on 12 March 1966 as a carrier screen. During this tour, she went on gunfire support missions near Danang and Quang Tri and conducted trawler surveillance in the Gulf of Tonkin. She headed home on 3 June and arrived in San Diego 10 days later. Following local operations, the destroyer entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on 11 August for a three-month overhaul.

In May of 1967, Wedderburn returned to Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin. In July of 1967, she underwent repairs at Subic Bay, which included repairs to her evaporator system, until 20 August. Getting underway for home on 21 September, Wedderburn reached San Diego on 6 October; in mid-November, she resumed normal operations off southern California. Wedderburn again underwent repairs at Long Beach between 19 April and 23 May 1968.

Wedderburn left for her last western Pacific tour on 30 September 1968, arriving in the Gulf of Tonkin on 3 November. By now, the old veteran was beginning to show her age. On 17 November, a recurring sonar problem forced her back to Subic Bay, where she remained until 9 December. She returned to duty in the Tonkin Gulf on 11 December but steam leaks forced her back to Subic Bay only three weeks later.

She completed repairs late in January 1969 and returned to the combat zone soon thereafter. The warship remained on station, dividing her time between gunfire support, carrier escort, and trawler surveillance. She began her final tour of duty on the gunline on 22 March.

On 1 October 1969, Wedderburn was decommissioned in San Diego. She was sold to Dhon's Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., for scrapping in January 1972.

Asbestos Risks

In each Navy vessel through two world wars, the mineral asbestos was routinely used for compartment insulation and for fire control. Though nearly every part of the Wedderburn presented a measurable level of asbestos exposure, the boilers and engineering sections were the sections where a seaman or a dockworker was likely to come into contact with airborne asbestos. Further risk of experiencing high levels of asbestos contact occurred whenever the craft took damage, whether in battle or through misfortune, because that frequently exposed asbestos-laden materials to the air or subjected them to flames or flooding.

The greatest risk of harmful exposure with asbestos is experienced in situations where fibers deteriorate and become exposed; if the asbestos filaments can enter the surrounding air, the material can then be breathed in by people near the exposure. Scientifically, asbestos intake has been conclusively linked with multiple forms of mesothelioma, asbestosis, cancer of the lungs, and other serious health ailments.

Workers exposed to this substance should therefore promptly notify their primary physicians, as most asbestos-caused problems are difficult 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.

Like people on the other destroyers of this era, servicemen who fought aboard the Wedderburn were, in addition to the expected hazards associated with war, in danger of asbestos fiber inhalation. This was the case with the Wedderburn even though she endured only moderate damage in battle, since over her long life she required extensive overhauls and repair jobs.

But on top of the retrofit activity, sailors who worked on the ship were often endangered by asbestos in the everyday conduct of their loyal service, as were repair personnel such as pipe fitters and mechanics who worked on the ship when the ship was in port. In light of what we now know about the consequences of asbestos inhalation, the men who served or toiled aboard this ship at any time in their career, and those assigned to other Navy ships, need to be made aware of the dangers posed by service-related exposure to asbestos, especially considering the ship's record.

Sources:

Destroyers Index