The USS Abbot (DD-629) was a Fletcher-class destroyer that distinguished itself through two decades of naval service spanning World War II, the Korean conflict, and the Cold War era. The Abbot played a pivotal role in modern American naval history, transitioning from wartime engagement to peacetime deterrence. Like all naval vesselsconstructed during this period, the vessel contained asbestos throughout its structure and systems that created serious health risks, including mesothelioma and lung cancer, for the sailors and shipyard workers associated with the vessel over its operational lifetime.
About the USS Abbot
Fletcher-class destroyers like the USS Abbot were integral during World War II and beyond. Displacing 2,050 tons, the vessel stretched 376 feet 6 inches in length with a 39-foot 7-inch beam and a 13-foot 9-inch draft. Her impressive speed of 35.2 knots meant she and her complement of 329 officers and enlisted men could reach deployment assignments quickly, even at great distances.
The ship carried substantial armaments to meet the needs of World War II’s battles, including five 5-inch guns, ten 40mm anti-aircraft weapons, seven 20mm anti-aircraft guns, ten 21-inch torpedo tubes, six depth charge launchers, and two depth charge racks. With this impressive weaponry, the destroyer was able to engage surface vessels, defend against aerial threats, conduct anti-submarine warfare operations, and provide shore bombardment support for amphibious operations.[1]
Throughout its service history, the Abbot proved to be remarkably versatile. During World War II, she primarily served in the Pacific, screening aircraft carriers, supporting amphibious landings, conducting shore bombardment, and providing anti-aircraft and anti-submarine protection for Allied naval forces. After the war and recommissioning in 1951, the Abbot transitioned to Atlantic and Mediterranean operations, participating in NATO exercises, midshipman training cruises, and diplomatic missions to strategic regions, sending a message about America’s naval presence.
During the Cold War, the Abbot provided support during the 1958 Lebanon Crisis and contributed to the enforcement of the naval quarantine during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Her final years were spent training future naval officers.[1]
Construction and Naming of the USS Abbot
The USS Abbot was the second United States Navy ship named in honor of Commodore Joel Abbot, a 19th-century naval officer whose career embodied the early traditions and development of America’s Navy. The ship was laid down by the Bath Iron Works Corporation in Bath, Maine, in 1942 as part of World War II’s accelerated wartime shipbuilding program. The ship was launched in February 1943, with Mrs. Grace Abbot Fletcher, great-granddaughter of the ship’s namesake, serving as sponsor. The ship was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard in April 1943 under the command of Commander Chester E. Carroll.[1]
Operational History and Deployments
World War II
In 1943, the USS Abbot left New England for the western Pacific, arriving in the Hawaiian Islands in October for additional training. A collision with the aircraft carrier Cowpens forced her into the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for repairs that lasted almost three months. When the ship returned to sea in December, she briefly resumed training before departing Pearl Harbor for the Ellice Islands.
In 1944, the Abbot was attached to Task Force (TF) 58 for the occupation of the Marshall Islands. She joined in frequent shore bombardments to keep Japanese troops occupied and planes grounded, then began patrolling between Majuro and Kwajalein. By mid-March, she’d been reassigned to the southwestern Pacific, where she escorted convoys between the southern Solomons and New Guinea ports. She then screened escort carriers providing close support for troops landing in northern New Guinea, then sailed for the New Hebrides Islands in May.[1]
After maintenance and training, Abbot headed to the Central Pacific with escort carriers for the Mariana Islands assault. She then screened carriers providing air support for landings at Saipan and Guam, protecting them during the decisive Battle of the Philippine Sea.
After returning to Pearl Harbor for repairs and training, the ship returned to the western Pacific, before departing Hawaii on September 15 for the western Pacific, joining the transport screen for the Philippines invasion at Leyte. She provided protection and assisted troops, then fulfilled escort duties while being the target of several Japanese air attacks.
In 1945, the ship endured intense kamikaze attacks, including one that forced the abandonment of Ommaney Bay. Her aircraft supported invasion troops and secondary landings at San Felipe and Nasugbu, then she supported assaults on Manila Bay islands, destroying mines around Corregidor and capturing three Japanese soldiers. The ship participated in numerous Philippine liberation operations and conducted shore bombardments, fire support, coastal patrols, and escort missions throughout the southern Philippines.
After participating in special bombardment missions against the Japan Iron Works, the Abbot’s starboard propeller and a portion of her tail shaft broke off while changing formation at high speed, her starboard propeller and portion of tail shaft broke off. Though damaged, she remained operational, escorting a destroyer that had suffered a kamikaze hit to Saipan on two days after the cessation of hostilities.
The 1950s
The USS Abbot was decommissioned on May 21, 1946. After nearly five years in the Reserve Fleet, she was recommissioned to serve in the Korean War. In preparation for this service, the Abbot underwent modernization at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, as well as repairs and refresher training. She completed her first Mediterranean deployment in 1952, and in 1954, she began a seven-month circumnavigation of the globe.[1]
Through the remainder of the 1950s, the ship alternated between local operations, overhauls, training exercises, midshipman cruises, and Mediterranean deployments. During the Lebanon Crisis, she escorted amphibious forces to the Mediterranean and later anchored at Beirut to provide gunfire support for American troops ashore. In 1959, she transferred to Escort Squadron 14 as the squadron flagship while continuing her anti-submarine warfare mission.
The 1960s
In 1961, the Abbot became the school ship for the Destroyer Officer’s School at Newport, interrupting this duty to serve as a base defense ship during disorders in Haiti and participating in the quarantine of Cuba during the missile crisis. The Abbot was decommissioned in 1965 at Philadelphia and berthed with the Philadelphia Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet for the next ten years. She was struck from the Navy list in December 1974 and sold for scrapping to the Boston Metals Company of Baltimore in 1975.
How Was Asbestos Used in Fletcher-class destroyers like the USS Abbot?
The USS Abbot was built during the rushed wartime shipbuilding program that took place between 1942 and 1943. During those years, asbestos materials were used throughout the structures of Fletcher-class destroyers and all naval vessels. Naval architects and engineers considered asbestos indispensable due to its characteristic heat resistance, light weight, electrical insulation, soundproofing, and strength. Its low cost and easy access were added benefits, so wartime specifications mandated its use across numerous shipboard applications, despite emerging scientific evidence regarding respiratory hazards.
Though asbestos manufacturers were receiving constant updates about the risks of mesothelioma, they chose not to share this information with military procurement authorities. This conscious decision to prioritize profits over people had devastating long-term impacts on the sailors and shipyard workers who were exposed to the carcinogenic mineral.
Asbestos-containing materials could be found in multiple critical areas of the USS Abbot, including:
- The destroyer’s engineering plant relied on asbestos insulation that surrounded boilers, steam lines, turbines, pumps, and related auxiliary equipment. The ship’s five fire and engine rooms contained the densest concentrations of asbestos materials: Lagging and insulation were wrapped around almost every high-temperature surface and component.
- The ship’s electrical distribution network powered the Abbot’s combat systems, communications equipment, and operational machinery, and used asbestos for its superior electrical insulation. In cable runs, distribution panels, switchboards, and motor insulation, asbestos was used to prevent electrical fires and protect adjacent equipment.
- Bulkhead insulation, overhead panels, ventilation duct linings, and fire boundary materials throughout the ship were made with compressed asbestos fibers designed to limit the spread of fire during battles or equipment failures. They were found in living spaces, mess decks, passageways, and work areas, putting everybody onboard close to asbestos, no matter what their duty assignments were.
- Fire control equipment, weapons mounts, ammunition handling rooms, and combat information spaces used asbestos for thermal insulation. It reduced condensation on sensitive electronics, dampened vibration from gunfire, and provided fire protection for mission-critical systems during engagement with enemy forces.
The Abbot’s service history included numerous periods of upgrade and repair, and each of these interventions increased the risk of asbestos disturbance and fibers being released into the air, where they could be inhaled. Repairs like that necessitated by the ship’s collision involved the removal and replacement of damaged asbestos insulation, and the same was true after the 1945 propeller shaft failure. The vessel’s 1951 FRAM modernization would have involved the greatest risk of exposure, as deteriorated asbestos materials were removed and new insulation was installed in the ship’s updated systems.
Normal operations and routine maintenance also disturbed asbestos materials, as crew members conducted necessary repairs and upkeep on equipment, firefighters trained with asbestos-containing protective gear, and damage control teams practiced emergency response procedures involving asbestos-insulated systems. Even vibrations from high-speed movements or shocks from gunfire could lead to asbestos releasing microscopic fibers into the ship’s ventilation system.
Health Implications for USS Abbot Personnel
Navy personnel assigned to the USS Abbot faced persistent asbestos exposure throughout their shipboard service, and the same was true of the shipyard workers tasked with upgrades, maintenance, and repairs. This exposure created long-term health risks, most of which remained hidden for decades.
When inhaled or ingested, asbestos fibers penetrate the cells of the lining of the pleural or peritoneal cavity, where their physical and chemical properties make them resistant to the body’s natural elimination methods. Asbestos particles have needle-like ends that get stuck in the body’s tissues, and after a period of time, inflammation and cellular damage can lead to genetic mutations and malignant tumors. This process continues for decades, slowly and invisibly, causing internal damage.
It takes between 20 and 50 years for symptoms to appear, and the resulting diseases can be deadly. While conditions like pleural plaques and asbestosis represent chronic, disabling conditions, other asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma and lung cancer can be deadly.
Who Was at Greatest Risk for Asbestos Exposure Onboard the USS Abbot?
Though anybody present in an asbestos-containing environment is at risk, specific duty assignments had greater exposure because of their work environments and responsibilities. Working within propulsion and engineering spaces exposed crew members to the most concentrated and sustained levels of asbestos, and the same was true of damage control personnel who regularly handled asbestos materials during emergency drills, electricians, and pipefitters.
Researchers have found that naval veterans, and especially those serving on destroyer-type vessels, represented a disproportionate percentage of people affected by asbestos-related diseases compared to the general population, largely because of the concentrated exposure conditions on these vessels and the extended deployment schedules typical of destroyers. Together, these factors create a highly dangerous cumulative dosage that greatly increases the chance of being impacted by mesothelioma or another disease.
Support for USS Abbot Veterans Diagnosed with Mesothelioma
Former USS Abbot crew members diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease that they believe is linked to their naval service may be eligible for compensation from a variety of sources, ranging from VA benefits to asbestos trust funds to jury awards or settlements after filing personal injury lawsuits.
Veterans Claims
The Department of Veterans Affairs has established a special category of benefits in acknowledgment of service-connected exposure to asbestos and resulting disabilities. Veterans who successfully prove the link between their service and their diagnosis qualify for special healthcare benefits and disability compensation, often at a 100% disability rating. They can also access the VA’s integrated healthcare network, including specialized pulmonary medicine departments, diagnostic services, and treatment programs specifically addressing asbestos-related diseases.
Personal Injury Lawsuits
Beyond filing claims with the VA, veterans affected by asbestos exposure have the right to file personal injury lawsuits against the companies that manufactured and supplied the Navy with the asbestos products that sickened them. These claims generally point to the companies’ failure to provide warnings about the dangers of their products, despite being well aware of the risks and potential outcomes. Successful litigation against these manufacturers has provided significant compensation for veterans suffering from asbestos-related diseases.
Asbestos Trust Funds
Finally, bankruptcy filings pursued by many former asbestos companies have led to the establishment of specialized trust funds set aside specifically for those harmed by the companies’ products. Though the compensation offered by these funds is generally less than the amount that can be awarded through the litigation process, the trust funds provide quick payment without the victim having to engage in a stressful, adversarial process.
Contact an Asbestos Attorney
Former crew members and shipyard workers who were exposed to asbestos on the USS Abbot should consult with their healthcare providers about monitoring and special screening for asbestos-related diseases, as early detectionsignificantly improves prognosis and treatment. If you’ve been diagnosed, consulting an experienced mesothelioma attorney can provide you with all the answers you need about your options. Whether you’re interested in the VA benefits system, the asbestos trust funds process, or filing a personal injury lawsuit, these knowledgeable professionals will help. Asbestos attorneys can help you document your service history, identify specific asbestos-containing products found aboard Fletcher-class destroyers, and develop smart strategies for maximizing financial support for you and your family.
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