USS Chauncey (DD-3)

The USS Chauncey (DD-3) was a Bainbridge-class destroyer used by the United States during the first two decades of the 20th century. She was named for Commodore Isaac Chauncey (1779-1840).

Construction

Chauncey represented a new type of U.S. Naval warship, constructed and launched at the Neafie & Levy Ship and Engine Building Company of Philadelphia. The third of 13 Bainbridge-class destroyers commissioned in the wake of the Spanish-American War, Chauncey was launched in October 1901 and commissioned a year later.

Originally designated as "torpedo-boat destroyers," the modern destroyer was developed during the last half of the 19th Century as a response to the fast, maneuverable, self-propelled torpedo attack boats used during the American Civil War. Initially, the function of a destroyer was to protect a fleet in port from these attacks. In 1885 however, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched the first modern steel destroyer and began to expand the role of this type of vessel. Gradually, destroyers were deployed to the open sea for the purpose of defending heavier, less maneuverable warships from torpedo attacks.

Eventually, destroyers outfitted with torpedo tubes of their own were used to escort merchant convoys as well when the Imperial German Navy began unrestricted submarine warfare during the First World War.

Naval History

Chauncey spent her first months off the Atlantic Coast of the U.S. before being ordered to the Asiatic Station out of the Philippines in order to protect American commercial interests in China as that country began imploding during the first decades of the 20th century. She remained posted out of the Cavite Naval Base until the summer of 1917.

By August of 1917, the U.S. had been officially at war with Imperial Germany for four months. Chauncey was ordered to the Atlantic that month for convoy escort duty. Sailing out of St. Nazaire, France, Chauncey carried out this mission until 19 November. That night, she collided with the British merchant vessel S.S. Rose. The collision sent Chauncey to the bottom just after three in the morning; her captain and twenty-one crewmen went down with her as the survivors were rescued by the crew of the Rose.

Of the thirteen Bainbridge-class destroyers, Chauncey was the only one to be lost at sea while carrying out her duties.

Asbestos Risk on the USS Chauncey (DD-3)

Steam engines of all types employed a number of asbestos-containing materials, primarily insulation and gaskets. These engines required frequent maintenance; major servicing was carried out at least once a year on the average. Such maintenance was dangerous for the sailors and dockworkers who performed it, as it involved frequent high levels of exposure to asbestos fibers, a dangerous mineral that is strongly linked to diseases like asbestosis and mesothelioma.

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Sources

Haislip, Harvey USN (Ret.) A Memory of Ships. U.S. Naval Institute (Sept. 1977)

NA. "Chauncey." Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c7/chauncey-i.htm Retrieved 26 November 2010.