USS Manta (SS-299)
History of the USS Manta Submarine
The USS Manta (SS-299) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 15, 1943, though she was finished at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire. She was launched on November 7, 1943 and commissioned on December 18, 1944 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Edward P. Madley.
The USS Manta left New London, Connecticut for Pearl Harbor on March 27, 1945. Her first war patrol began on May 28 off the Kuril Islands. During this patrol, she made no contact with the enemy before returning to Pearl Harbor on July 16. The submarine headed out for her second patrol on August 8, but it ended prematurely when the Japanese capitulated just one week later.
When the USS Manta returned to Pearl Harbor on September 10, she conducted training operations there into December. From there, she headed to San Francisco, California on January 2, 1946 to undergo inactivation overhaul. The submarine was decommissioned on June 10, 1946, and she joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Mare Island Navy Yard.
The USS Manta was recommissioned as ESS-299 on August 2, 1949 under the command of Lieutenant E.H. Edwards, Jr. The following month, she was redesignated as an auxiliary submarine, AGSS-299, and ordered to Key West, Florida. She spent the next four years in Key West as a target vessel for experimental antisubmarine warfare projects being conducted by the Operational Development Force of the Atlantic Fleet.
From Key West, the USS Manta headed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire on July 5, 1955 for inactivation overhaul. She was towed to New London, where she was decommissioned on December 6, 1955 and joined the Reserve Fleet. The submarine was then assigned as a training ship for Naval Reservists of the Third Naval District in April 1960. Several years later, she had outlived her usefulness, and she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on June 30, 1967. She was sunk as an aircraft target on July 16, 1969 off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia.
The use of asbestos was common in shipbuilding components for much of the 20th Century because of its resistance to heat, fire, water and corrosion. Because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, seaman, shipyard workers and longshoreman are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma
Sources include:
Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences, by John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed
