Originally, frigates were a type of sailing warship built between the 17th and 19th centuries to perform a variety of naval assignments. Later in the 19th century, the first armored frigates were built by the British and U.S. navies. At the time, these were the most powerful warships on the ocean. However, eventually the term frigate became obsolete.
During World War II, the term “frigate” was reintroduced to refer to escort ships that were sized between a corvette and a destroyer. The term “frigate” has continued to be used after World War II to refer to a variety of different types of ships.
Frigates in the U.S. Navy were mostly built in the decades following World War II. These guided missile frigates (classified as DLG or DLGN), were anti-aircraft cruisers built on hulls that resembled a destroyer. These frigates were designed to augment and eventually replace World War II cruisers that protected aircraft carriers against anti-ship cruise missiles.
In 1975, when ships in the U.S. Navy were reclassified, some U.S. Navy frigates were reclassified as guided missile cruisers or destroyers (CG/CGN/DDG). At the same time, destroyer escorts (DE/DEG) were reclassified as frigates (FF/FFG). Later in the 1970s, the U.S. Navy introduced the Oliver Hazard Perry class of guided missile frigates, which received the hull classification FFG.
Asbestos on U.S. Navy Frigates
U.S. Navy frigates that were built before the 1980s probably contained some form of asbestos onboard. Because asbestos was so cheap and effective at stopping fires or protecting sailors against heat, the Navy used more than 300 asbestos-containing materials that were found onboard ships such as frigates.
Asbestos materials were commonly found onboard frigates as insulation for boilers, engines, pipes, and inside the hull. Asbestos could also be found inside the crew’s sleeping quarters, the ship’s mess hall, navigation rooms, or other common areas of the ship.
Because of the widespread use of asbestos onboard frigates before the 1980s, sailors who served onboard these ships may have been exposed to large quantities of asbestos. As a result, these naval veterans are at risk of developing diseases such as mesothelioma cancer, asbestosis, or other health conditions linked to asbestos exposure.
The following is a list of U.S. Navy frigates that may have been contaminated with asbestos:
- USS Ainsworth (FF-1090)
- USS Albert David (FF-1050)
- USS Antrim (FFG-20)
- USS Aubrey Fitch (FFG-34)
- USS Aylwin (FF-1081)
- USS Badger (FF-1071)
- USS Bagley (FF-1069)
- USS Barbey (FF-1088)
- USS Blakely (FF-1072)
- USS Boone (FFG-28)
- USS Bowen (FF-1079)
- USS Bradley (FF-1041)
- USS Brewton (FF-1086)
- USS Bronstein (FF-1037)
- USS Brooke (FFG-1)
- USS Brumby (FF-1044)
- USS Capodanno (FF-1093)
- USS Carr (FFG-52)
- USS Clark (FFG-11)
- USS Clifton Sprague (FFG-16)
- USS Connole (FF-1056)
- USS Cook (FF-1083)
- USS Copeland (FFG-25)
- USS Crommelin (FFG-37)
- USS Curts (FFG-38)
- USS Davidson (FF-1045)
- USS De Wert (FFG-45)
- USS Donald B. Beary (FF-1085)
- USS Downes (FF-1070)
- USS Doyle (FFG-39)
- USS Duncan (FFG-10)
- USS Edward McDonnell (FF-1043)
- USS Elmer Montgomery (FF-1082)
- USS Elrod (FFG-55)
- USS Estocin (FFG-15)
- USS Fahrion (FFG-22)
- USS Fanning (FF-1076)
- USS Flatley (FFG-21)
- USS Ford (FFG-54)
- USS Francis Hammond (FF-1067)
- USS Gallery (FFG-26)
- USS Garcia (FF-1040)
- USS Gary (FFG-51)
- USS George Philip (FFG-12)
- USS Glover (FF-1098)
- USS Gray (FF-1054)
- USS Halyburton (FFG-40)
- USS Harold E. Holt (FF-1074)
- USS Hawes (FFG-53)
- USS Hepburn (FF-1055)
- USS Ingraham (FFG-61)
- USS Jack Williams (FFG-24)
- USS Jarrett (FFG-33)
- USS Jesse L. Brown (FF-1089)
- USS John A. Moore (FFG-19)
- USS John L. Hall (FFG-32)
- USS Joseph Hewes (FF-1078)
- USS Julius A. Furer (FFG-6)
- USS Kauffman (FFG-59)
- USS Kirk (FF-1087)
- USS Klakring (FFG-42)
- USS Knox (FF-1052)
- USS Koelsch (FF-1049)
- USS Lang (FF-1060)
- USS Lewis B. Puller (FFG-23)
- USS Lockwood (FF-1064)
- USS Mahlon S. Tisdale (FFG-27)
- USS Marvin Shields (FF-1066)
- USS McCandless (FF-1084)
- USS McCloy (FF-1038)
- USS McClusky (FFG-41)
- USS McInerney (FFG-8)
- USS Meyerkord (FF-1058)
- USS Miller (FF-1091)
- USS Moinester (FF-1097)
- USS Nicholas (FFG-47)
- USS O’Callahan (FF-1051)
- USS Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG-7)
- USS Ouellet (FF-1077)
- USS Patterson (FF-1061)
- USS Paul (FF-1080)
- USS Pharris (FF-1094)
- USS Ramsey (FFG-2)
- USS Rathburne (FF-1057)
- USS Reasoner (FF-1063)
- USS Reid (FFG-30)
- USS Rentz (FFG-46)
- USS Reuben James (FFG-57)
- USS Richard L. Page (FFG-5)
- USS Roark (FF-1053)
- USS Robert E. Peary (FF-1073)
- USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG-49)
- USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG-60)
- USS Sample (FF-1048)
- USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58)
- USS Samuel Eliot Morison (FFG-13)
- USS Schofield (FFG-3)
- USS Sides (FFG-14)
- USS Simpson (FFG-56)
- USS Stark (FFG-31)
- USS Stein (FF-1065)
- USS Stephen W. Groves (FFG-29)
- USS Talbot (FFG-4)
- USS Taylor (FFG-50)
- USS Thach (FFG-43)
- USS Thomas C. Hart (FF-1092)
- USS Trippe (FF-1075)
- USS Truett (FF-1095)
- USS Underwood (FFG-36)
- USS Valdez (FF-1096)
- USS Vandegrift (FFG-48)
- USS Voge (FF-1047)
- USS Vreeland (FF-1068)
- USS W. S. Sims (FF-1059)
- USS Wadsworth (FFG-9)
- USS Whipple (FF-1062)
Free Asbestos Health Exam for U.S. Navy Veterans
If you or a loved one served onboard a U.S. Navy frigate or other ships that may have contained asbestos materials, you may qualify to receive a free asbestos testing to determine whether you may have developed mesothelioma cancer or other diseases linked to asbestos exposure.
For more information about how you can receive a free asbestos health exam, contact the lawyers at Hissey, Mulderig & Friend by calling our office toll-free at 1-855-500-3734.
You can also reach us by filling out the free case evaluation form located in the upper left corner of this page.
After we receive your message, a member of our staff will contact you to obtain any additional information that we need and to help you schedule your free asbestos examination.