USS Perkins (DD-26)

The USS Perkins (DD-26) served in the US Navy for two-and-a-half decades, beginning at the start of the second decade of the 20th century. She was named for Commodore George Hamilton Perkins who carried out various offensives against the Confederacy during the Civil War. Perkins was built as a Gearing-class ship.

Construction

The 742-ton Perkins was laid down in Quincy, Massachusetts by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company in March 1909, and commissioned in November 1910, with Lieutenant Commander Pringle in command. Carrying a crew of 86, Perkins was 293 feet, 10 inches in length and was armed with depth charge racks, five three-inch guns, and three 18-inch torpedo tubes. She could travel at a speed of 30 knots.

Naval History

Perkins was deployed with active and reserve destroyer squadrons in the Atlantic and Caribbean for nearly seven years, and was re-commissioned in April 1917 with Lieutenant Frank M. Knox in command. When the United States entered World War I, Perkins was deployed with the second division of US Navy destroyers sent to Europe, and operated out of Queenstown, Ireland from June until November 1917. Assigned to escort and patrol missions, she rescued survivors of Tarquah in August and escorted SS Bohemia from Saint Nazaire to Ireland and SS New York from Queenstown to Liverpool.

Perkins returned to New York in November 1917 and was overhauled in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1918. From March to December 1918, she was deployed to antisubmarine and escort duty out of Gravesend Bay, New York, and in June, sighted German submarine U-151 off of New Jersey. Perkins escorted the ships President Grant and President Washington, between Halifax, Nova Scotia and New York, during this deployment.

In December 1919, Perkins entered the Reserve Fleet and participated in fleet exercises in the Caribbean. She was then decommissioned and placed on reserve in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, renamed in 1933, and struck from the Navy list in March 1935. In June, Perkins was sold and broken up for scrap.

Asbestos Risk on the USS Perkins (DD-26)

The USS Perkins made extensive use of asbestos containing materials around engines and engineering rooms, and to insulate pipes all through the vessel. The many asbestos parts and cramped quarters of ships from this era put sailors aboard the Perkins at high risk for exposure to the dangerous mineral. When inhaled, asbestos fibers can lodge themselves in the thin lining of cells that protects and buffers internal organs called the mesothelium. It can cause scarring and tissue damage, and eventually lead to diseases such as mesothelioma.

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Sources

NavSource Naval History, USS Perkins (DD-26).
http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/026.htm Retrieved 17 December 2010

Department of the Navy – Naval Historical Center.
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-p/dd26.htm Retrieved 17 December 2010

Tin Can Sailors, USS Perkins (DD-26)Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
http://www.destroyers.org/DANFS/h-DD-26.htm Updated 1981. Retrieved 17 December 2010