USS Jouett (DD-41)

The USS Jouett (DD-41) was a destroyer which served in the US Navy during World War I. She was a Paulding-class destroyer named after Edward Jouett. Admiral Jouett was famed for the capture and destruction of the Confederate schooner Royal Yacht and his part in the Battle of Mobile Bay. Three US Navy vessels have been named for Admiral Jouett, DD-41 first among them. She was armed with 5 three-inch guns and six eighteen inch torpedo tubes.

Construction

On March 7, 1911, the Bath Iron Works, LTD. laid down the Jouett and she launched a year later on April 15, 1912. She was sponsored by Miss Marylee Nally and was commissioned at Boston on May 24, 1912 under the command of Lt. Commander W.P. Cronan.

Naval History

Jouett was based off the east coast where she joined the Atlantic Fleet Torpedo Flotilla until 1914, when she set sail for Mexico to assist with the Marine landing at Vera Cruz on April 21, 1914. Immediately after this operation, she returned to the east coast where she carried out training maneuvers until April 1917, when the United States entered World War I.

Jouett remained on patrol duty from April 1917 to August 1917 in Delaware Bay. That August, she set sail as an escort for five troop ships headed for France. After that she resumed her previous patrol until January 1918 when she headed for New London for experiments with antisubmarine detection devices. By June 1918, the Jouett began operations with a special group of antisubmarine vessels up and down the east coast of the United States, until the war ended.

With the Armistice, Jouett directed training exercises and fleet maneuvers until July 1919 when she was sent to Philadelphia for decommissioning. She was decommissioned November 1919 and was inactive for five years. In April 1924 the Coast Guard borrowed her to use as a cutter for several years and in May 1931 she was sold for scrap to Michael Flynn Inc. of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Asbestos Risk on the USS Jouett (DD-41)

The installation of asbestos in the construction of oceangoing ships was required by law in the US in the early 1930s, after a deadly fire on a cruise ship killed 137 people. Jouett deployed asbestos heavily, particularly in boilers and engineering compartments, and to insulate pipes all through the ship. If an asbestos-based product is worn or damaged it can become friable, which means that fibers can break off and enter the surrounding air, where they are breathed in by naval personnel or dockworkers, increasing the odds of developing mesothelioma. After asbestos gets into the body, tiny fibers get stuck in the mesothelium, a thin body of cells that surrounds and protects the body's lungs, stomach, and heart, and in time this infiltration may lead to mesothelioma.

Because mesothelioma can sometimes go undiagnosed until it has spread to other areas of the body, the mesothelioma prognosis in many cases is not optimistic. Those diagnosed with mesothelioma disease may have a need for information about their legal rights a mesothelioma attorney can be a source for that information. Other information can be found in our mesothelioma information packet. It contains up-to-date information about legal options and treatment options, as well as a list of mesothelioma clinical trials nationwide. All you have to do is complete the form on this page and we will send you the package at no charge.

Sources

“Jouett [I].” Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/j4/jouett-i.htm). Retrieved 15 December 2010.

“USS Jouett DD-41.” USS Jouett DLG/CG 29. (http://www.ussjouett.com/other.htm). Updated 12 December 2005. Retrieved 15 December 2010.