SS Murray M. Blum Areas With Asbestos Exposure

The SS Murray M. Blum was a Liberty ship built at J.A. Jones Construction, Brunswick, Georgia, during World War II. The cargo ship was named after Murray M. Blum, a radio operator of the SS Leonidas Polk who drowned attempting to save an overboard crewman on 3 December 1943. The SS Murray M. Blum was laid down on 19 September 1944, under a Maritime Commission contract, and launched on 25 October 1944. On 7 November 1944, the SS Murray M. Blum was allocated to Mississippi Shipping Co., Inc. Three years later, she was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, in Beaumont, Texas. On 12 March 1971, she was sold to Pinto Island Metals Company, for scrapping. Nearly 3,000 Liberty ships were built with numerous asbestos-containing materials, exposing people who worked on those ships to high risk. Now, several decades later, many of the sailors and shipbuilders associated with Liberty ships are developing lung cancer, asbestosis, mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.