The USS O'Flaherty (DE-340) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort laid down on October 4, 1943, and launched on December 14, the same year. It was commissioned on April 8, 1944, under Lt. Cmdr. D. W. Farnham’s command as DE-340 and served in the U.S. Navy for 3 years until it was decommissioned in January 1947. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 222 people on board and had its main missions in Bermuda, Trinidad, Panama Canal, Manus, Guam, San Diego, Tarawa, Eniwetok, Pearl Harbor, and Okinawa. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on December 1, 1972, and sold for scrapping the following year. For the services brought to the country during World War II, the USS O’Flaherty received 4 battle stars. Asbestos was used extensively in the Navy, which covered its ships and submarines from end to end with asbestos products, knowing it would prevent fires and overheating at sea. Even though the use of asbestos stopped in the 1970s, many veterans are just now being diagnosed with a condition attributable to exposure while serving on active duty. If you served in the U.S. Navy before 1980 and participated in duties such as the construction, overhaul, or repair of the ships, you could be entitled to compensation from more of the established asbestos trust funds.
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