The USS Norris (DD/DDE-859) was a Gearing-class destroyer with a distinguished record of service spanning the Korean War, Cold War operations, and the Vietnam conflict. While the ship’s crew participated in combat missions, NATO exercises, space program recovery operations, and sustained antisubmarine warfare development, it was unaware of being exposed to hazardous asbestos-containing materials incorporated throughout its construction. Many of these sailors subsequently developed malignant mesothelioma and other debilitating asbestos-related illnesses.
The Gearing-Class Destroyers
The USS Norris was one of 98 Gearing-class destroyers constructed during and in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The design of this class of ships was distinguished from its predecessors in several ways, the most consequential of which was its structural change. The Gearings featured a hull extension that made it 10 feet longer than the earlier Allen M. Sumner class. This modification substantially expanded fuel storage and extended the vessels’ operational range without sacrificing the high-speed performance required for fleet screening and escort assignments.[1]
The Norris displaced 2,425 tons, achieved speeds of 31.5 knots, and carried 288 officers and enlisted personnel.[2] Her propulsion plant relied on steam turbines and high-pressure boilers that demanded extensive attention from those in the crew tasked with their maintenance. These systems, together with the pipes, valves, gaskets, and mechanical components connected to them, were heavily insulated and sealed with asbestos-containing materials that, at the time, the Navy considered essential to safe and reliable operation. The confined machinery spaces where these systems were housed received inadequate ventilation, and this created hazardous conditions for the personnel assigned to work there. Higher concentrations of asbestos trapped within these small areas dramatically elevated the risk of staff developing malignant mesothelioma or other asbestos-related conditions.
About the USS Norris
The USS Norris was built at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation shipyard in San Pedro, California. The facility was a major contributor to the Navy’s wartime shipbuilding program, producing multiple Gearing-class destroyers built during the final stages of World War II. The ship’s keel was laid down on August 29, 1944, and she was launched and ultimately commissioned in June of 1945.
The Ship’s Namesake
The Navy vessel honored the memory of Major Benjamin White Norris of the United States Marine Corps. Born in 1907 in Callao, Peru, Major Norris was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1919 and completed flight training in 1938, going on to earn promotion to Major in May of 1942. One month later, Major Norris was killed in action during the Battle of Midway, one of the most pivotal naval engagements in American history. His courage in leading a search and attack mission under combat conditions was recognized with a posthumous award of the Navy Cross. His widow sponsored the destroyer named in his tribute at its commissioning ceremony.[3]
Active Service and Tours of Duty
Following shakedown exercises off the California coast, the Norris spent three months supporting the Pre-Commissioning Training Center at Treasure Island before sailing for Hawaii and Far Eastern patrol assignments. She arrived at Hong Kong in February 1946. Much of that deployment was spent suppressing smuggling and privateering activity along the Chinese and Korean coastlines. She returned to San Diego in February 1947, then sailed again for the China coast, where she remained from January July 1948.[3]
Following an overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard that incorporated extensive modifications to strengthen her antisubmarine capabilities, Norris joined the Atlantic Fleet at Newport, Rhode Island, in October 1948. Reclassified as escort destroyer DDE-859 in March 1950, she sailed for her first Mediterranean deployment in July, shortly after the beginning of the Korean War, but was redirected through the Suez Canal to join the Seventh Fleet in the combat theater.
Deployment History
The Norris participated in blockade operations, coastal patrols, fire support missions, and carrier screening duty. She delivered gunfire support during the Hŭngnam evacuation in early December 1950 and rescued 21 South Korean civilians from a drifting vessel during blockade operations off the North Korean coast. She returned to Newport in March 1951, underwent an overhaul, and conducted North Atlantic and Caribbean training before undertaking her originally planned Mediterranean deployment in April 1952. The USS Norris earned two battle stars for her Korean War contributions.
Peacekeeping operations with the Sixth Fleet ran through June 1952, followed by preparation for Operation Main Brace, a NATO exercise conducted in the North Sea. Additional Mediterranean deployments followed from April 1952 through February 1953 and again from January through May 1954. Beginning in mid-1954, she served for 15 months with the Atlantic Fleet’s Hunter-Killer Force. During a fleet exercise, the Norris collided with the USS Bergall (SS-320).
In 1955, the Norris escorted Sixth Fleet replacements to Gibraltar before resuming antisubmarine evaluation and training in the western Atlantic and Caribbean, but a three-week North Atlantic patrol during the 1956 Suez crisis interrupted that schedule. She conducted an extended training voyage to South America from January through late March 1957, calling at ports in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay while conducting antisubmarine exercises alongside Latin American naval forces. She subsequently returned to the Mediterranean from August through December 1957, extending that deployment into Red Sea operations as well.
The Norris next participated in Task Force Bravo, an experimental antisubmarine development group, until resuming Sixth Fleet duty from June through August 1960. She underwent a FRAM II conversion at the Philadelphia Navy Yard from March through December 1961, which equipped her with updated antisubmarine systems and modernized her for continued service. Reclassified as a general-purpose destroyer (DD-859) in August 1962, she was stationed off Cuba in October during the Cuban Missile Crisis quarantine, then returned to Newport in December to begin preparations for a Mediterranean deployment running from February through July of 1963. The Boston Naval Shipyard installed an experimental wire-guided torpedo system in the ship in August 1963, and the Norris devoted much of the following year to testing and assessing that technology.[3]
Two additional Mediterranean deployments followed, from October 1964 through January 1965, and again from August through December. In 1966, the ship was part of support operations for the Polaris, acting as a missile tracking vessel. It also participated in the primary recovery force for the Gemini X space mission.
Departing Newport for Vietnam operations in October, she arrived at Yokosuka and supported ground troops ashore, repelling a Viet Cong assault. After four months on the gunline, she completed a full circumnavigation by returning through the Suez Canal to Newport, arriving there in April 1967. She returned to the Mediterranean in 1968 for summer operations, deployed again in 1969, and continued alternating between the Second and Sixth Fleets into 1970.
The USS Norris was decommissioned in December 1970 and struck from the Navy List in February of 1974. She was then transferred to Turkey and ultimately sold for scrap in June 1994.
Where Was Asbestos Found on the USS Norris?
From the 1930s through the 1970s, the catastrophic health consequences now known to be caused by asbestos exposure were largely hidden from military personnel and civilians alike. Evidence presented at trial has revealed that manufacturers and distributors whose products contained the mineral had received numerous reports of its lethality, yet routinely suppressed or downplayed that knowledge to protect their profit interests. Without this information, the Navy regarded asbestos as a wonder material that offered unmatched protection for both equipment and the personnel who operated it. Based on its economy, ready supply, resistance to fire, and ability to insulate against extreme heat, it was incorporated into hundreds of applications aboard every vessel it commissioned, and the USS Norris was constructed according to those same specifications.
The use of asbestos within the Norris was wide-ranging. It was in the insulation blanketing the ship’s piping networks from bow to stern, in bonding compounds, in deck and flooring treatments, and in the protective clothing and fire suppression gear carried aboard. The highest concentrations of the mineral’s toxic fibers were found in the areas where thermal protection was most needed: the boiler rooms, engine spaces, turbine compartments, and adjacent machinery areas housing the machinery that powered the vessel.
Asbestos Exposure Risks to USS Norris Crew Members
Roughly 3,500 Americans learn each year that they have mesothelioma. It is a rare and always fatal cancer whose primary cause is asbestos exposure, and veterans of the United States Navy account for approximately one-third of all these cases nationally. This disproportional representation directly reflects the conditions aboard Navy ships constructed before 1980. Veterans who served on the USS Norris belong to this population. Though every sailor aboard the vessel encountered asbestos to some degree as part of daily shipboard life, those whose duties placed them in the engineering compartments and other high-temperature areas experienced the heaviest concentrations, and today they carry the greatest risk.
The danger that comes from exposure to asbestos-containing materials comes when the fibrous mineral breaks down through age, vibration, impact, or physical disturbance during maintenance and repair work. At this point, it becomes what is known as friable, and it sheds and spreads microscopic fibers into the surrounding atmosphere. These particles can’t be detected with the naked eye, and they are extremely light. They drift in the air for extended periods and can easily be drawn into the respiratory tract. Once there, they can become permanently embedded in the cells they encounter. Decades later, the accumulated injury from these fibers can ultimately produce mesothelioma, asbestosis, or other serious conditions.
Who was at Greatest Risk of Asbestos Exposure Aboard the USS Norris?
The crew members at greatest risk aboard the Norris were those stationed in the boiler and engine compartments, where poor airflow and constant activity around heavily insulated machinery created persistent high-fiber environments. Also at risk were the technicians and repair personnel who physically disturbed asbestos materials during routine maintenance and system upgrades.
The dangers of asbestos exposure extended far beyond those specific duty stations. Fibers carried through the ship on the uniforms of those returning from the high-exposure areas spread contamination into sleeping quarters, dining spaces, and throughout the vessel’s living and working environment. This meant that crewmates with no direct contact with the engineering spaces were also exposed. The FRAM II overhaul conducted at the Philadelphia Navy Yard from 1961 through 1962, combined with other maintenance periods at naval shipyards throughout the ship’s career, also placed civilian shipyard workers in direct contact with the mineral’s risks. This meant that asbestos’s legacy of harm reached well beyond the crew itself.
Health Monitoring
Veterans who sailed aboard or performed work on the USS Norris have a high likelihood of having experienced asbestos exposure that places them at elevated risk for mesothelioma and other asbestos-linked diseases. Unfortunately, not having developed symptoms yet does not mean that the danger has passed. Mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases have long latency periods: this means that warning signs often don’t arise for as long as five or six decades after exposure.
Those who served on the ship, or who worked on it in a shipyard, should raise their service history and the asbestos conditions aboard the Norris with their physician and request that their exposure be documented in their medical records. Establishing this history in writing alerts can set health monitoring in motion and alert other healthcare providers that they should watch for emerging symptoms. Given the decades-long gap between exposure and diagnosis typical of asbestos-related illnesses, attentive monitoring can lead to earlier detection and have a real bearing on treatment options and outcomes.
Support and Compensation for Veterans with Mesothelioma
The corporations whose asbestos-containing products created these conditions knew about the danger their materials posed and chose concealment over candor, leaving both sailors and the workers who handled their products to suffer the consequences decades later. Veterans who served aboard the USS Norris and who have since received a mesothelioma diagnosis are entitled to important benefits from the Veterans Administration, and may be eligible to seek accountability and compensation through legal action.
VA Claims
Veterans who served aboard the USS Norris and who have received a diagnosis of an asbestos-linked condition can file claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs seeking benefits and medical support. The VA has acknowledged that shipboard asbestos exposure during military service is responsible for a substantial share of veterans’ asbestos-related illnesses, and has classified malignant mesothelioma as a condition qualifying for a 100% disability rating. Veterans who can demonstrate a connection between their service and their diagnosis may be eligible for disability payments and access to specialized care through VA medical facilities throughout the country.
Seeking Legal Assistance for Asbestos Cases
VA benefits represent an important resource for support, but mesothelioma victims may also have grounds to pursue civil claims against the manufacturers and distributors whose products created the hazardous conditions aboard vessels like the Norris. Attorneys who focus their practice on asbestos litigation have deep knowledge of prior cases involving the environment on Gearing-class destroyers and can draw on detailed records identifying the specific asbestos suppliers connected to individual ships. This information is highly effective at establishing the link between a veteran’s particular service and the responsible parties.
Additionally, companies that sought bankruptcy protection because of their asbestos liability exposure were required to fund dedicated asbestos compensation trusts as a condition of that protection, and those trusts continue to pay eligible claimants. A knowledgeable mesothelioma attorney can identify which trust funds may apply to your circumstances, explain the procedures governing each option, and advise you on the filing deadlines that determine how long you have to bring a personal injury claim.
If you’re a veteran who served aboard the USS Norris or on any other ship or setting, putting yourself in the hands of an experienced mesothelioma attorney will give you and your family the best opportunity to secure the accountability and financial protection your service and sacrifice deserve.
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