USS Farragut (DD-348)
The USS Farragut (DD-348) served in the U.S. Navy for a decade and a half in the early 20th century, and was awarded 14 battle stars for her service in World War II. She was named for Admiral David Glasgow Farragut, who served in the Civil War and was the first person to hold the rank of Admiral in the U.S. Navy. Farragut was the lead ship of the Farragut class of destroyers.
Construction
Farragut was laid down at Quincy, Massachusetts by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in September 1932, launched in March 1934, and commissioned in June with Commander E. Buckmaster in command. Carrying a crew of 160, Farragut was 341 feet three inches long and armed with five 5-inch anti-aircraft guns, four machine guns, and eight 21-inch torpedo tubes.
Naval History
Farragut operated out of Norfolk, Virginia along the east coast and in the Caribbean following commissioning. In March 1935, Farragut carried President F.D. Roosevelt from Jacksonville, Florida to a private yacht, escorted the President in the Bahamas, and returned him to Jacksonville in April. Farragut was then assigned as flagship of Destroyer Squadron 2 at San Diego and participated in fleet activities on the west coast, and trained naval reserves off Alaska until January 1939. She continued and expanded training operations at Pearl Harbor as World War II escalated.
Farragut was berthed at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack, and set sail while firing on enemy aircraft, sustaining minor damage. She continued operating off Hawaii until being assigned to anti-submarine patrol and escort duty from Oahu to San Francisco through March 1942. In April, Farragut joined the Yorktown task force and fought the Japanese at New Guinea during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Farragut operated as an escort in Australia and New Zealand in May and then conducted screening and plane guard duty in the Solomon Islands.
In April 1943, Farragut was deployed to Alaskan waters as a patrol, and screened troop transports at Adak. She operated in the Aleutians until September and, in January 1944, was deployed to the Marshall Islands and later New Guinea. Farragut guarded aircraft carriers at Saipan in June, conducted radar operations during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and supported underwater demolition teams at Guam. She also covered troop landings on Guam in July.
Farragut served as a screen for the Iwo Jima and Okinawa invasions and then served as a convoy escort between Ulithi and Okinawa. In September 1945, Farragut arrived at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where she was decommissioned in October, and sold for scrap in August 1947.
Asbestos Risk on the USS Farragut (DD-348)
Although asbestos is never genuinely safe, when it is undisturbed or undamaged it poses relatively limited risk to human health. However, asbestos-containing materials that become damaged during a fire, as a result of enemy attack, from collision with other ships, or during the refit or repair of ship components, can become “friable”. This means that the individual asbestos fibers in the material become loose and can be inhaled or ingested. Inhalation or ingestion of fibers can lead to the development of mesothelioma. Working with damaged asbestos insulation or damaged components exposed USS Farragut’s sailors and dock workers to much higher levels of asbestos than that encountered on a daily basis.
The exact way in which asbestos causes mesothelioma, asbestosis, or lung cancer is not known. It is generally thought that asbestos fibers lodge in the body’s tissues, particularly in the mesothelium, a thin layer of cells that wraps and protects the heart, lung, and abdominal cavities. The fibers cause inflammation, possibly as a result of the body’s immune system response to a foreign object, and over time this inflammation leads to the formation of plaques and eventually, tumors. These tumors readily become cancerous, and the result is the disease known as mesothelioma. Asbestos fibers can cause a number of other serious or deadly conditions as well, such as lung cancer, asbestosis, pleural plaques, and diffuse pleural thickening.
Sources
Haze Gray & Underway. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. DD-348.
http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd348txt.htm
NavSource Naval History, USS Farragut (DD-348).
http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/348.htm
