USS Wilkinson (DD-930)

The USS Wilkinson (DD-930/DL-5) was one of four Mitscher-class destroyers built shortly after World War II. Her keel was laid down by Bethlehem Steel Company's Shipbuilding Division at its Quincy, Massachusetts, yard on 1 February 1950. On 9 February 1951, she was reclassified as a "destroyer leader" and given a new designation of DL-5. She was subsequently launched on 23 April 1952 and commissioned on 3 August 1954.

The 1950s

After undergoing shakedown trials out of Guantanamo Bay, Wilkinson reported to her home port of Newport, Rhode Island, on 21 February 1955. Except for a midshipman's summer training cruise that summer, Wilkinson spent the next several months operating in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. She was assigned to San Diego and the Pacific Fleet in July 1956.

For the next two years, Wilkinson operated along the Pacific coast from the Bering Strait to Southern California. She was moved to Long Beach in July 1957, and entered the naval shipyard six months later for extensive modifications to her power plant. Released from the yard in September, Wilkinson was used for underway training out of San Diego for the remainder of 1958.

1959 and the first part of 1960 took Wilkinson to the Far East on two separate deployments. Between tours, she carried out routine operations off the California coast. In 1960, she returned to the Long Beach Navy Yard for five months of repairs and modifications, focused on improving her anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities.

After several months of underway training and local routine operations out of San Diego, Wilkinson was deployed to WestPac for the third time, departing Long Beach on 3 January 1961. In mid-March 1961, she was ordered to the South China Sea, where an increased U.S. Naval presence was required due to the crisis in Laos. She returned to San Diego on 27 May.

Wilkinson again entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in June for the installation of improved sonar equipment, a task that continued for a year. This was followed by another year of testing and evaluation from Puget Sound to San Diego, after which she was ordered back to the Atlantic. She arrived at Newport on 5 July.

The next few years consisted of additional testing and evaluation of the equipment as Wilkinson plied the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

Wilkinson proceeded to Boston in May 1965 for an overhaul that lasted until 5 February 1966.

1966 to 1970

Wilkinson stayed fairly close to home over the next four years, although she did visit Argentina during the 150th anniversary of that nation's independence from Spain. For the most part, she operated along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico; during this period her new sonar equipment and ASW capabilities were continually subject to evaluation.

Wilkinson entered the Boston Naval Shipyard on 13 September 1968 for her regular overhaul that rounded out the year and lasted into June 1969.

During a dependents' cruise in July 1969, the ship's commanding officer announced that Wilkinson was to be decommissioned as part of a cutback in military expenses.

Fate

Wilkinson arrived at the South Annex of the Boston Naval Shipyard to commence inactivation on 3 September. She was decommissioned on 19 December 1969 and placed in reserve at Philadelphia.

Wilkinson was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 May 1974 and sold for scrap to Luria Brothers and Company Inc. of Philadelphia on 13 June 1975.

Asbestos Risks

Since people first began fighting organized battles, those who serve in the armed forces have understood that their service means facing serious dangers. But along with the apparent risks one associates with time in the military, a hidden one faced soldiers and sailors in the 20th century: asbestos contact.

As flames on ocean-going vessels can be extraordinarily difficult to deal with, fireproofing is an important consideration in shipbuilding. As a result, it was common (and in fact often required by law) for fireproofing materials such as asbestos to be included when destroyers like USS Wilkinson were built. Asbestos was known even in ancient times for its fireproofing properties, but it has also been shown to be the primary factor in the development of such debilitating diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma. The damage done by asbestos happens when tiny fibers are breathed in or swallowed; they infiltrate the lungs and occasionally other organs, leading to development of scar tissue in the case of pleural plaques and damage at the cellular level in the case of lung cancer and mesothelioma.

During the heat of battle or while struggling to survive a hurricane, the possibility of eventually contracting mesothelioma was no doubt the furthest thing from most people's thoughts. But when a vessel was subject to damage from battle action, by the weather or in a collision with another ship, it usually exposed asbestos-containing material and permitted it to become airborne, leading to hazards besides the more obvious ones. In addition, because nearly every compartment in destroyers like USS Wilkinson had asbestos-containing materials, all onboard typically faced some level of exposure to asbestos even as they performed their routine duties. Since asbestos was widely used around ship's pipes and boiler rooms, navy files with duties in such areas were especially in danger. But it wasn't only shipboard sailors who suffered from asbestos poisoning; people who maintained Wilkinson when it was in dry dock to be overhauled were also exposed to airborne asbestos.

Because asbestos-related illnesses like pleural mesothelioma frequently do not appear until many years after a person was exposed to asbestos, they can be extremely hard to spot. To be able to make an accurate diagnosis, a doctor must understand a patient's experience with contact with asbestos. If you are a veteran who served aboard USS Wilkinson for any period of time, you should learn more about the signs of diseases associated with asbestos and talk about your asbestos exposure history with your health care provider. 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.

Source

Destroyers Index