USS Whipple (DD-217)
The USS Whipple (DD-217) served in the U.S. Navy for more than two and a half decades in the early 20th century. She was named for Captain Abraham Whipple who served in the French and Indian Wars and in the American Revolution. Whipple was built as a Clemson-class ship.
Construction
Whipple was laid down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by the William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company in June 1919, launched in November, and commissioned in April 1920 with Lieutenant Richard F. Bernard in command. Carrying a crew of 114, Whipple was armed with four 4-inch rapid-fire guns, one three-inch anti-aircraft gun, and twelve 21-inch torpedo tubes.
Naval History
Whipple began her Navy service operating in the Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean in May 1920, with deployments to Turkey, Russia, Syria, and Egypt to primarily observe conditions and deliver mail. In October, Whipple was commended for efforts in aiding the Greek steamer Thetis, and conducted patrols off of Russia as hostilities there increased in July 1920. Whipple then resumed mail carrying duties with the Near Eastern Naval Detachment into the spring of 1921.
Whipple sailed the Far East in May 1921 and arrived at Cavite, Philippine Islands in June, and served with the Asiatic Fleet. In January 1925, Whipple operated as a transport for marines when war broke out in Shanghai. Whipple returned to the United States in May and operated off the east coast and Nicaragua until May 1927, Cuba in 1928 and in the Pacific out of San Diego, California in August 1929. In April 1936, Whipple collided with Smith Thomson, damaging the latter beyond repair.
When World War II began in Europe, Whipple conducted neutrality patrols off the Philippines until 1941. Whipple was struck by the Dutch De Ruter off of Java in February 1942, but received only minor damage and returned to active duty. Later that month, Whipple rescued survivors of Langley, which was abandoned following a Japanese aircraft attack off Java, and transferred them to Pecos the next day, which was subsequently attacked by Japanese bombers. Whipple once again rescued the survivors who escaped on life boats.
Whipple operated in the Atlantic and Mediterranean in 1943 and 1944, both as a convoy escort and defense against German U-boats. In June 1945, Whipple was re-designated auxiliary ship AG-117 at New London, Connecticut, and was converted to a high-speed transport vessel at the New York Navy Yard in July. Following duty in the Pacific during August and September, Whipple was decommissioned at Philadelphia in November 1945 and sold for scrap to the Northern Metals Company in September 1947.
Asbestos Risk on the USS Whipple (DD-217)
Asbestos insulation has been widely employed in industrial and factory buildings since late in the 19th century. New safety regulations were put into place beginning in the 1930s which called for improved ways of fireproofing maritime vessels, and thus began the widespread use of asbestos insulation; while the USS Whipple was constructed before those regulations had been implemented, the U.S. Navy understood the value of fireproof insulation aboard its ships and used it from the very earliest part of the 20th century until the 1970s.
Whether a member of the crew spent his days in the boiler rooms and engineering sections or in parts of Whipple that didn't use heavy machinery, eventually he/she would probably have been exposed to asbestos products to one degree or another. Sailors who served in the engineering section, worked on heavy machinery, or worked in damage control would have suffered more intense asbestos exposure. Boilermen, engineers, and machinists were also at significant risk for being exposed to asbestos on board the ship.
The development of pleural mesothelioma is strongly correlated to the quantity of exposure to asbestos fibers as well as the total time of exposure. Mesothelioma lawyers can help with options for Navy veterans who have contracted malignant mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos while serving on board a Navy ship or while working in a shipyard.
Sources
Haze Gray & Underway. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. DD-217.
http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd217txt.htm
NavSource Naval History, USS Whipple (DD-217).
http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/217.htm
