The USS Enright (DE-216/APD-66) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort laid down on February 22, 1943, and launched on May 29, the same year. It was commissioned on September 21, 1943, under Lt. Comdr. A. Wildner’s command with the hull number DE-216 and served in the U.S. Navy for 3 years until it was decommissioned on June 21, 1946. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 213 men on board and had its main missions in the North Atlantic, New York, Norfolk, Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, Ulithi, and Okinawa. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on March 31, 1978. Navy personnel aboard military ships built in the first half of the 20th century were constantly exposed to airborne asbestos fibers no matter what they were doing. The effects of asbestos exposure do not become evident for decades, and an individual with an asbestos-related illness may not show any signs and symptoms of exposure for years. This complicates the process of proving that one’s sickness is service-connected, a necessary condition to support a claim for compensation.
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