The USS Fred T. Berry (DD/DDE-858) was a Gearing-class destroyer that served throughout the Korean War, Cold War era, and Vietnam conflict. The ship is remembered for having participated in combat operations, NATO exercises, and antisubmarine warfare development, but service exposed crew members to dangerous asbestos-containing materials that were integrated throughout its construction. As a result, many veterans, as well as shipyard workers involved in her maintenance, developed malignant mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.
About the USS Fred T. Berry
The USS Fred T. Berry was constructed at the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard in San Pedro, California.[1] The facility was invaluable to the Navy’s wartime production effort, building multiple Gearing-class vessels to meet urgent Pacific Fleet demands, but in later years, that work was blamed for exposing numerous shipyard workers to asbestos during that construction. The ship was laid down in July 1944 as part of the Gearing-class destroyer program and was launched in January 1945.
A Gearing-Class Destroyer
As one of the 98 Gearing-class destroyers built during and immediately after World War II, the USS Fred T. Berry and her sister ships represented significant design improvements over the Navy’s earlier destroyer classes. While these vessels featured several enhancements to their armament and weapons systems, the most notable change was to their hulls, which incorporated a 10-foot extension amidships compared to their predecessors. This modification substantially increased the ships’ fuel capacity and improved their operational range and endurance across both Pacific and Atlantic theaters.[2]
The Fred T. Berry carried a complement of 336 officers and enlisted personnel and had an operational range of 4,500 nautical miles at 20 knots, displacing 2,425 tons at standard load. The ship was powered by advanced steam turbine propulsion systems and boilers manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox. These systems, along with many of their components, contained significant amounts of asbestos, and the machinery spaces where they were housed had inadequate ventilation that exacerbated the mineral’s hazards for personnel assigned to these areas. The resulting high concentration of airborne asbestos fibers significantly increased their risk of developing malignant mesothelioma and related illnesses.
The Ship’s Namesake
The vessel was named in honor of Commander Fred Thomas Berry. Born in 1887 in Logan, Iowa, Commander Berry entered the United States Naval Academy in 1904 and graduated with the Class of 1908. He distinguished himself during World War I as the commanding officer of the USS McCall (DD-28), earning the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism while patrolling submarine- and mine-infested waters, protecting convoys, and conducting offensive and defensive actions against enemy naval forces.[1]
After the war, Berry transitioned to lighter-than-air aviation, training at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, where he earned his naval aviator designation in 1930. He went on to command both USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) and Naval Air Station Lakehurst before taking command of the Rigid Airship Training and Experimental Squadron aboard USS Akron (ZRS-4). In April 1933, Commander Berry was killed when the Akron crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey coast during a severe storm. His widow, Charlotte Berry, sponsored the destroyer named in his honor at its January 1945 launch ceremony.
Active Service and Tours of Duty
Initially homeported in San Diego, California, the Fred T. Berry conducted carrier training exercises in Hawaiian waters after World War II before sailing to the Far East for occupation duties, where her assignments included port visits to Japan and China. She completed a second Far East cruise from December 1947 to August 1948 before undergoing a modernization overhaul that enhanced her antisubmarine warfare capabilities and preceded her transfer to the Atlantic Fleet. She arrived at her new home port of Newport, Rhode Island, in September 1949.[3]
The ship was reclassified as an escort destroyer (DDE-858) in March 1950 and was then deployed to Korean War operations. She joined the 7th Fleet in the Far East, where she screened fast carriers of Task Force 77 during strikes against North Korean targets and escorted the battleship USS Missouri during bombardment operations at Hŭngnam, earning two battle stars on her Korean Service Medal.
Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, the Fred T. Berry conducted multiple Mediterranean deployments with the U.S. Sixth Fleet, demonstrating a sustained American naval presence as Cold War tensions escalated. Notable assignments included participation in Operation Mainbrace, a major NATO exercise conducted off British ports in 1952, and a 1956 midshipman summer training cruise to ports in Spain and Scotland. From 1954 through 1963, she served in experimental hunter-killer groups focused on antisubmarine warfare development along the Atlantic coast.
Between 1961 and 1962, the vessel underwent an extensive FRAM II conversion at the Boston Naval Shipyard. This modernization equipped her with variable-depth sonar systems, a helicopter deck and hangar for Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter operations, and anti-submarine rockets that significantly enhanced her capabilities for Cold War-era submarine detection and engagement. Following this conversion, she resumed Atlantic Fleet operations before deploying to the Western Pacific in January 1965.[3]
In January 1966, the Fred T. Berry left Newport to participate in Vietnam War operations as part of Destroyer Squadron 12. She joined the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the South China Sea, screening aircraft carriers conducting airstrikes against North Vietnamese targets and providing naval gunfire support along the Vietnamese coast. In March, she conducted operations in the Mekong River Delta region. She earned the Combat Action Ribbon for direct enemy engagements and received two campaign stars on her Vietnam Service Medal. The ship was sent on another Western Pacific deployment from January 1967 to early 1968, along with a final Mediterranean deployment in 1967.
The Fred T. Berry was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in September 1970 and deliberately sunk off the coast of Key West, Florida, in May 1972 to create an artificial reef. On June 17, 1973, a submersible, the Johnson Sea Link I, became entangled in a cable near the sunken destroyer due to poor visibility. Rescue operations for its four occupants were hampered by strong currents and wreck hazards. After more than 33 hours, the vessel was retrieved on June 18th. Two occupants in the aft compartment died from carbon dioxide poisoning worsened by cold temperatures, while the two forward occupants survived with decompression treatment.[4]
How Was Asbestos Used on the USS Fred T. Berry?
Before the 1970s, the health dangers now associated with asbestos were largely unknown to military personnel and the general public. Many manufacturers of asbestos-containing products were aware of the cancer risks posed by their materials, but concealed or minimized this information to protect their profits. Since the military believed the material would safeguard both personnel and equipment, it specifically required its use in hundreds of applications: Its cost-effectiveness, widespread availability, superior fire resistance, and excellent thermal insulation led to its use in the construction of ships, army barracks, and thousands of other applications.
Almost all naval vessels built during the 1940s incorporated asbestos throughout their construction, and the USS Fred T. Berry was no exception. Following Navy construction standards, asbestos was integrated into virtually every section of the ship. The mineral was used to insulate piping systems that ran throughout the vessel, in adhesive compounds, flooring materials, deck coatings, and the firefighting equipment and protective gear issued to crew members.
The highest concentrations of asbestos were found in areas housing high-temperature machinery and steam-powered systems—the engine compartments, boiler spaces, turbine rooms, and machinery areas—where both the equipment itself and the personnel operating it required maximum thermal protection.
Asbestos Exposure Risks to Fred T. Berry Crew Members
Each year, approximately 3,500 Americans receive a diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma, and roughly one-third of those diagnosed are U.S. Navy veterans. This disproportionate representation is a direct consequence of sailors’ relentless daily exposure to asbestos aboard Navy ships built before 1980, including the USS Fred T. Berry. While every crew member aboard experienced some degree of exposure, those working in the ship’s engine rooms and other confined, high-temperature spaces faced the greatest concentrations and the highest personal risk.
When asbestos-containing materials degrade—through ordinary wear, physical damage, or maintenance activities such as removing and replacing old insulation—they become friable, meaning they crumble and release microscopic fibers. These fibers are invisible to the naked eye and so light that they can remain suspended in the air for hours. Once inhaled, these needle-like fibers embed themselves in tissue, where no natural defense mechanism can dislodge them. Over the course of decades, the chronic inflammation and cellular mutations they trigger can develop into asbestosis, various serious lung conditions, or in the most devastating cases, malignant pleural mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer.
While airborne asbestos posed risks to all personnel aboard the Fred T. Berry, those facing the most severe danger included personnel assigned to the cramped engine and boiler rooms, where ventilation was inadequate, and maintenance and repair technicians directly handled insulation and other asbestos-containing materials during routine upkeep and overhaul work.
Beyond direct contact, many sailors inhaled asbestos fibers carried throughout the ship’s environment on the clothing, hair, and skin of crewmates who worked in the highest-exposure areas. This secondary contamination reached berthing compartments, mess halls, and duty stations that were far removed from the engineering spaces. The ship’s FRAM II overhaul in the early 1960s, along with the regular maintenance and upgrades performed at various shipyards throughout her career, also placed civilian shipyard workers at substantial risk of exposure.
Many veterans who served aboard the USS Fred T. Berry and have since been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma have pursued legal action against the companies responsible for placing asbestos into their shipboard environments. The manufacturers and suppliers of these materials knowingly concealed evidence of harm for decades while continuing to profit from Navy contracts, leaving thousands of veterans to bear the devastating consequences of that decision years and even decades after their service ended.
Support and Compensation for Veterans with Mesothelioma
Health Monitoring
Navy veterans who served aboard or worked on the USS Fred T. Berry faced significant asbestos exposure that puts them at risk for a mesothelioma diagnosis and other asbestos-related conditions. Even veterans who are not currently experiencing symptoms should discuss their service history and asbestos exposure with their physician. Including this information in your medical records ensures that healthcare providers will keep an eye out for relevant symptoms as they arise and provide appropriate screening. This heightened awareness increases the likelihood of early detection and prompt treatment, which can meaningfully improve long-term outcomes.
VA Claims
Veterans who served on the USS Fred T. Berry and have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease can file a claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs for benefits and support. The VA has recognized that asbestos exposure during military service has contributed to many veterans’ illnesses and has designated malignant mesothelioma as a condition warranting a 100% disability rating. Veterans who can demonstrate service-connected asbestos exposure and a resulting diagnosis are eligible for comprehensive benefits, including disability compensation and specialized medical care through VA treatment facilities nationwide.
Legal Assistance for Asbestos Exposure Victims
Beyond VA benefits, mesothelioma victims may be eligible to pursue legal action against the companies that exposed them to asbestos. An attorney experienced in asbestos litigation can help you pursue both justice today and financial security for your family in the future. Law firms specializing in asbestos cases maintain extensive databases of prior claims to help establish the connection between a veteran’s specific service history and asbestos products and their suppliers used aboard the Fred T. Berry.
Even if some of those manufacturers have declared bankruptcy as a result of extensive prior asbestos liabilities, they may still be a source of compensation, as many were required to establish dedicated asbestos trust funds for future victims as a condition of receiving bankruptcy protection.
A mesothelioma attorney can walk you through the procedures for each available compensation option and advise you about statutes of limitations—the legal deadlines that dictate how long asbestos victims have to file a personal injury claim after their initial diagnosis. With knowledgeable legal guidance, you can make informed decisions that are true to your values and goals, protect your rights, and provide for your family’s financial future.
References
View All References
