USS Williamson DD-244

USS Williamson (DD-244/AVP-15/AVD-2/APD-27) was a Clemson-class destroyer, built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 29 October 1920.

The Mezzo-bellum Years

Williamson's first mission was to Turkey, in June 1920, for humanitarian relief in the wake of the Ottoman collapse.

Over the next several years, Williamson's routine remained fairly standard for vessels of her type in active service. In June 1938 as the political tensions rose between the U.S. and the Japanese Empire, Williamson was converted into a seaplane tender.

All torpedo gear was removed as well as her four-inch guns, the three-inch antiaircraft gun, the depth charge tracks, and the forward two boilers. Additional deckhouse space was added forward. Accommodations for 12 airmen and a supply of aviation gasoline were made. A boat derrick was added to the existing searchlight tower structure to handle a pair of 30-foot motor launches to be used for tending the planes in the water. The ship retained her forward and aftermost four-inch guns, and four .50-caliber machine guns were added for antiaircraft defense.

By the end of December 1938, Williamson was ready for action.

World War II

On 7 December 1941 Williamson was undergoing overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. In January 1942, she was assigned to the Aleutians to resume her duties with the PBY squadrons.

Williamson later set up an advanced seaplane base at Chernofski and supported the PBY squadron assigned the mission of bombing the Japanese troops on Kiska Island until Army planes could take over the task. On 23 June, after having established the advanced site, the destroyer-seaplane tender left the Aleutians and steamed to Seattle for badly needed repairs.

After returning to Dutch Harbor in August, she proceeded to sea on the 25th to attempt the rescue and salvage of a PBY. During the operation, Williamson was attempting to take the damaged seaplane in tow when a wave threw it against one of the vessel's propeller guards. This dislodged a pair of depth charges, and the resultant explosion injured 16 men, blowing another over the side. At Dutch Harbor, Seabees reinforced the damaged hull with "I" beams taken from a dismantled hangar, enabling Williamson to limp back to Seattle on one engine.

By the time Williamson's repairs had been completed in January 1943, she was obsolete. She served as plane guard and escort for carriers operating in the Puget Sound and San Diego areas, rescuing 14 men from the water after accidental crashes over the next few months.

Ordered back to Alaska in April, Williamson supported the invasion and occupation of Kiska and Attu in the spring 1943. Returning to San Diego late in June, Williamson briefly trained with submarines and then resumed escorting and plane-guarding for carriers on their shakedown cruises. On 1 December 1943, Williamson returned to her original destroyer classification: DD-244.

After repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard in January 1944, Williamson sailed for the South Pacific. There, she carried out screening operations in the New Guinea area. Upon completion of that assignment, Williamson proceeded to the Solomon Islands, where she was again chosen for special duty and was outfitted with special equipment for refueling the Navy's new scout planes at sea. Williamson's service enabled the ships on the bombardment lines to conduct almost uninterrupted gunfire support for the landings then in progress.

Williamson departed Guam on 16 August and proceeded to Pearl Harbor, escorting a convoy. She was overhauled at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard before she operated as plane guard and carrier escort for Carrier Division 11. From the autumn of 1944 until 8 January 1945, the destroyer provided escort and plane guard services for several carriers, rescuing seven men during that time.

After operating in that capacity through mid-August 1945, Williamson headed home, arriving in Philadelphia on 16 October and was decommissioned on 8 November 1945.

She was sold to the North American Smelting Company and scrapped on 4 November 1948.

Asbestos Risks

On every American Navy craft through two world wars, asbestos was commonly utilized for insulation and as fire control. Although nearly every section of a ship such as the Williamson posed at least some asbestos exposure, crewmen or dockworkers were most likely to be at risk of exposure to asbestos fibers when working in a ship's engine room and engineering sections. Even more risk of being subjected to major asbestos inhalation resulted if the warship was hit, in combat or through misfortune, as that often exposed asbestos-containing compartments to the open air or subjected them to fire or flooding.

With asbestos, the greatest danger to human health happens whenever products made from the mineral are friable; if very small asbestos fibers can enter the surrounding air, the particles may then be inhaled by people in the area. A high level of asbestos exposure is known to be thoroughly linked to multiple forms of mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, and many other dangerous medical ailments.

As most asbestos-induced disorders can be hard to distinguish from other illnesses, anyone exposed to asbestos fibers should promptly tell their physicians of the details about this history. To learn more about the diagnostic process, the nation's top doctors and finding financial assistance to help pay for medical costs, please fill out the form on this page to receive a comprehensive packet in the mail.

It is an unfortunate fact that on top of the normal hazards associated with combat, crewmen who fought on board the Williamson were, as were people on other vessels of this type, constantly endangered by asbestos fiber inhalation, especially since the ship saw heavy damage in battle and required serious reworkings and patch jobs.

In addition to this significant damage and redesign work, those who lived and worked aboard the Williamson were also subject to inhalation of asbestos in the ordinary conduct of their duty. Asbestos exposure was also commonplace for port-based workers such as pipe fitters and electricians who maintained the Williamson when the ship was drydocked. Considering the Williamson's service record, and based on what we now know about the consequences of prolonged contact with asbestos, it is important that the men who at any point in their career lived and worked on board this vessel, as well as those who served on other American ships, understand the dangers posed by past exposure to asbestos fibers.

Sources:

Destroyers Index