The USS Grayson (DD-435), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was laid down on 17 July 1939 by the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, and launched on 7 August 1940; sponsored by Mrs. Alice Gertrude Gordon Grayson Harrison; and commissioned on 14 February 1941, with Lieutenant Commander Thomas M. Stokes in command. Following shakedown off the New England coast and in Chesapeake Bay, the ship joined the Atlantic Fleet's Destroyer Division 22. On 28 August, the new destroyer assumed command of Destroyer Squadron 11, which operates out of Guantanamo Bay in the Caribbean. On 26 October, it reported to the North Atlantic seas between Newfoundland and Iceland for neutrality patrol. Navy veterans who were exposed to asbestos products may develop pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer as a result of their exposure. Navy veterans should know that asbestos-related diseases, such as lung cancer and asbestosis, typically have a long latency period. This means that if you were exposed to asbestos while serving aboard the USS Grayson (DD-435), anywhere from 10 to 50 years may pass before the symptoms of mesothelioma appear.
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