The USS Bausell (DD-845) was a Gearing-class destroyer laid down and launched in 1945, and commissioned in 1946. After shakedown, she trained in the Atlantic and joined the Pacific operations, conducting Far East patrols, escorts, and surveillance missions through 1950. The ship patrolled Philippine and Japanese waters and underwent an overhaul in 1953. In the Korean War, she joined TF 77 and conducted bombardments, Taiwan Strait patrols, and carrier screening. Through 1955, the vessel completed multiple Far East cruises, supported armistice monitoring, trained crews, and aided the Tachen Islands evacuation amid local tensions. In the Vietnam War, from 1962 to 1977, the destroyer deployed repeatedly to the western Pacific, conducting patrols, carrier escort, antisubmarine warfare, and naval gunfire missions. She also supported evacuations, crises, and exercises across Asia and the Indian Ocean, operated from Yokosuka, and engaged Soviet vessels. After the final cruises across the Pacific, the USS Bausell was decommissioned and struck from the Register in 1978. Like many Navy destroyers built in that era, the ship contained significant amounts of asbestos, especially in the boiler and engine rooms. Consequently, throughout their shipboard service years, naval crews risked asbestos exposure and developing severe related diseases decades after leaving the military.
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