The USS Benjamin Stoddert (DDG-22) named after Benjamin Stoddert, the Secretary of the Navy from 1798 to 1801, was a Charles F. Adams-class guided-missile destroyer laid down on June 11, 1962, and launched on January 8, the following year. It was commissioned on September 12, 1964, under Comdr. Walter Megginness’ command with the hull number DDG-22 and served in the US Navy for 27 years until it was decommissioned on December 20, 1991. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 354 people on board and had its main missions in San Francisco, San Diego, Kauai, Pearl Harbor, Viet Cong, Yokosuka, the Admiralty Islands, Sidney, Wellington, Honolulu, Kwajalein, Singapore, and Midway Island. For the services brought to the country during the Vietnam War, the USS Benjamin Stoddert received 9 battle stars, 1 Combat Action Ribbon, and the Meritorious Unit Citation. Asbestos-containing materials were heavily used in shipbuilding and specially used in products that were utilized in the construction of enclosed rooms and narrow areas, such as the engine rooms, the boiler rooms and other places located below the deck below deck where the ventilation was often poor making the fibers even more concentrated and leading to a higher risk of exposure.
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