The USS Chambers (DE-391) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort laid down on May 28, 1943, and launched on August 17, the same year. It was commissioned on November 22, 1943, under Comdr. H. A. Loughlin’s command with the hull number DE-391 and served in the U.S. Navy for 17 years until it was decommissioned on June 20, 1960. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 209 people on board and had its main missions in Norfolk, San Pedro, Pearl Harbor, New York, New Bedford, Newfoundland, Newport, and Florida. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on March 1, 1975, and sold for scrapping the same year. Nearly one-third of people who develop mesothelioma or other asbestos-related diseases are veterans. Further, a majority of former service members with the disease have a Navy service record. Asbestos was used in boiler rooms, engine rooms, sleeping berths, and mess halls. It could be found in adhesives and pipe coverings and even in the paint. What this means is that almost everyone who worked in a shipyard or served in the U.S. Navy, particularly between the 1940s and 1980s was at some point exposed to asbestos.
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