USS Stevens (DD-86)

The USS Stevens (DD-86) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the U.S. Navy during World War I. It was the first ship in the U.S. Navy to carry this name. The ship was named for Thomas Holdup Stevens (1795-1841), an American naval commander in the War of 1812.

Construction

In September 1917, Stevens was laid down at Quincy, Massachusetts, by the Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation. The completed vessel was launched in just under four months during January 1918. Stevens was commissioned at Boston under the command of Commander Rufus F. Zogbaum the following May.

Naval History

In June, Stevens sailed from New York for Europe and reached Brest, France toward the end of June. In July 1918, Stevens reported to the U.S. Naval Forces, Europe, in Queenstown, Ireland. There, she guarded convoys on the Queenstown-Liverpool route until mid-December when she sailed to the Azores and Bermuda before reaching Boston in January 1919. Upon returning to the United States, Stevens reported to Destroyer Division 7, Squadron 3, Atlantic Fleet. The following spring she called on Key West, Florida, New York and Boston before arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 1919 to take part in the first successful transatlantic flight. Stevens guarded U.S. Navy seaplanes on their flight to Newfoundland. Along the way to Ponta Delgada in the Azores, she assisted in the search for a downed Curtis seaplane.

Upon completing her mission, Stevens arrived at Boston in June before proceeding to Newport, Rhode Island, a month later, for standard operations. During the fall and early winter of 1919, Stevens called on ports along the southeastern coast of the United States before arriving in Philadelphia where she remained from December 1919 to June 1920. Stevens carried on along the New England coast until she set course for Charleston, South Carolina the following November.

Stevens returned to Philadelphia in April 1922 for inactivation. Stevens was decommissioned in Philadelphia in June where she remained inactive until January 1936. The following September her name was struck from the Navy list. Her hulk was sold to the Boston Iron and Metal Company, Incorporated, of Baltimore, Maryland, for scrapping.

Asbestos Risk on the USS Stevens (DD-86)

Nearly every compartment of Stevens was contaminated with material containing asbestos fibers. Some of the areas on board the ship contained heavy machinery and therefore contained a greater quantity of asbestos. The engine and boiler rooms were the more heavily contaminated areas on the ship, but asbestos packing was used in pumps and valves all over the ship, and asbestos gaskets were present in most shipboard machinery.

Prolonged exposure to asbestos insulation, and specifically friable asbestos, increases a person's risk of developing pleural mesothelioma. Asbestos insulation that was damaged by wear, long service, or enemy action posed particular risk because the material was "friable", meaning individual fibers were separated from the insulation. Repairing damaged asbestos insulation exposed Stevens' crew and dockyard personnel to more perilous quantities of asbestos than those encountered on a routine basis. The legal system offers options for veterans who have developed mesothelioma after serving in the military.

Sources

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s18/stevens-i.htm Retrieved 23 December 2010.