The USS Buckley (DE/DER-51) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort laid down on June 29, 1942, and launched on January 9, 1943. It was commissioned on April 30, 1943, under Lt. Comdr. A. W. Slayden’s command with the hull number DE-51 and served in the U.S. Navy for 3 years until it was decommissioned on July 3, 1946. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 186 men on board and had its main missions in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. After decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Naval Register on June 1, 1968. One year later, in July 1969, the ship was sold for scrapping. We now know that inhaling asbestos fibers can cause a number of health problems, including asbestos-related lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis. To give you an idea of just how prevalent asbestos was in the U.S. military, there are approximately 21 million U.S. military veterans living today, yet veterans account for 30 percent of the estimated 3,000 mesothelioma cases diagnosed each year, and the 10,000 annual deaths from all asbestos-related diseases, according to the CDC.
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