USS Mayrant (DD-31)
The USS Mayrant (DD-31) served in the US Navy during the second decade of the 20th century until being placed on reserve. She was named for John Mayrant, who served as a midshipman in the South Carolina and Continental Navies during the American Revolution. Mayrant was built as a Paulding-class ship, a class of destroyers that were a modification of the Smith-class and able to burn oil as an alternative to heavier coal.
Construction
The 742-ton Mayrant was laid down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by William Cramp & Sons in April 1909. Mayrant was launched in April 1910 and commissioned in July 1911, with Lieutenant Commander C.P. Nelson in command. Carrying a crew of 86, she was 293 feet, 10 inches long and armed with five three-inch rapid-fire guns and three 18-inch torpedo tubes. Mayrant was propelled by four boilers and three Parsons turbines that provided 17,393 horsepower, and had a fuel capacity of 236 tons of oil. Her top speed was 32.8 knots.
Naval History
Mayrant conducted peacetime operations along the east coast of the United States and in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. Arriving at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in January 1912, Mayrant participated in winter exercises in the Caribbean at various ports. She was decommissioned in May 1915 and held at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Recommissioned in January 1918, Mayrant was employed as an escort ship on the east coast and across the Atlantic, and participated in winter maneuvers in the south following the Armistice. Mayrant received a pre-inactivation overhaul at the Navy yard in Charleston, South Carolina in June 1919, decommissioned once again in December, and redesignated in July 1920. The former Mayrant berthed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the Reserve Fleet until 1935. She was struck from the Naval Register in March and sold for scrap to M. Block & Company in Norfolk, Virginia.
Asbestos Risk on the USS Mayrant (DD-31)
Ships of this era often used asbestos to insulate and fireproof engines, boilers, and pipes. The close quarters and high concentration of asbestos parts means that sailors on ships like the Mayrant face a particularly high risk of having been exposed to dangerous asbestos fibers compared to members of the other armed services. Breathing airborne asbestos can cause a variety of serious medical conditions, the gravest of which is mesothelioma.
Reliable information on mesothelioma isn't easy to find, so we have produced a comprehensive mesothelioma information kit with up-to-date information concerning the disease and your legal rights. If you or a loved one served aboard the Mayrant, or built or serviced this vessel, this valuable kit can help answer your questions and lead you to compensation for asbestos-related injury. Please submit the form on this page to receive this information packet at no cost.
Sources
NavSource Naval History, USS Mayrant (DD-31).
http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/031.htm Retrieved 18 December 2010
Department of the Navy – Naval Historical Center.
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/dd31.htm Retrieved 18 December 2010
Tin Can Sailors, USS Mayrant (DD-31), Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
http://www.destroyers.org/DANFS/h-DD-31.htm Updated 1981. Retrieved 18 December 2010
