The USS Rich (DE-695) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort laid down on March 27, 1943, and launched on June 22, the same year. It was commissioned on October 1, 1943, under Lt. Comdr. E. A. Michel’s command with the hull number DE-695 and served in the U.S. Navy for 1 year until it was sunk on June 8, 1944. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 213 men on board and had its main missions in Derry, Plymouth, France, and Utah Beach.
Because it was impossible to set on fire, there was a seemingly endless supply of it, it was cheap to mine and it was easily turned into a wide variety of heat-resistant products, asbestos was heavily used for insulation purposes on a number of Navy ships including aircraft carriers, destroyers, and transport vessels.
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