The USS John R. Craig (DD-885) was a Gearing-class destroyer laid down in 1944, launched and commissioned a year later. After shakedown, the vessel joined the Seventh Fleet, and in the years before the Korean conflict, alternated Far Eastern deployments with training periods off the California coast. When the Korean War broke out, she arrived in the combat zone and began operations with Task Force 77, screening aircraft carrier strikes and performing shore bombardments. Following the end of hostilities in 1953, the ship continued patrol operations and annual deployments to the Far East. In 1962, she underwent an extensive Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhaul. In the Vietnam War, the vessel served as a plane guard for aircraft carriers and conducted search and rescue and naval gunfire support missions. In 1973, the ship was assigned to U. S. Naval Reserve training for Naval Gunfire Liaison Officer training, performing plane guard duties for carrier training, and conducting goodwill cruises. The USS John R. Craig was decommissioned and stricken from the Register in 1979 and sunk as a target in 1980. Because naval ships contained tons of asbestos, Navy veterans make up the highest percentage of patients with asbestos-related diseases compared to other branches of the military.
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