The USS Fieberling (DE-640) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort laid down on March 19, 1944, and launched on April 2, the same year. It was commissioned on April 11, 1944, under Lt. Comdr. E. E. Lull’s command with the hull number DE-640 and served in the U.S. Navy for 4 years until it was decommissioned on March 13, 1948. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 213 men on board and had its main missions in Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, Manus, Purvis Bay, Funafuti, Okinawa, Guadalcanal, Saipan, and Guam. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on March 1, 1972. Several months later, the ship was sold for scrapping. As pipes that were insulated with asbestos ran throughout naval ships, ex-servicemen would have been exposed to asbestos from the pipe vibration alone. Many Navy veterans have related stories of how their bunks were covered in dust that emanated from the asbestos insulation on the pipes that ran through the accommodation spaces.
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