The USS Riddle (DE-185) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort laid down on July 29, 1943, and launched on October 17, the same year. It was commissioned on November 17, 1943, under Lt. Comdr. Roland H. Cramer’s command with the hull number DE-185 and served in the U.S. Navy for 3 years until it was decommissioned in June 1946. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 216 men on board and had its main missions in Bermuda, Panama Canal, the Marshall Islands, Roi Namur, Kwajalein, Majuro Atoll, Pearl Harbor, Manus Island, Seeadler Harbor, Leyte Gulf, Philippine Island, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Saipan, Guam, and Hawaii. For the services brought to the country during World War II, the USS Riddle received 12 battle stars. Despite a conclusive connection between prolonged exposure to asbestos’s harmful fibers and cancer in the 1960s, classifying the mineral as a carcinogen, asbestos demand peaked in the U.S. in the mid-1970s when hundreds of asbestos products were used in various industries, including shipbuilding, for insulation, fireproofing, and noise reduction. Navy veterans who were diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis, asbestos-related lung cancer, or mesothelioma, may be eligible for VA compensation.
760-621-6147
