Delivered to the Merchant Mariners on the 9th of May 1945, the SS Pratt Victory enjoyed a somewhat illustrious career in the Pacific. On July 27 she was torpedoed into the number 2 cargo hold, which remained inoperable for the rest of the war. Luckily, no member of her crew was injured, but they will tempt fate again some months after when 22 of them decided to volunteer for a dangerous mine-clearing operation near the Japanese home islands. The method used for this purpose was as crude as it could be and simply involved sailing the SS Pratt Victory into minefields to detonate any bombs that might still be active. Fortunately enough, the deactivation mechanism on the mines she went over functioned as designed and the ship didn’t receive any damage. During the Korean War, the SS Pratt Victory took part in moving and supplying the 140th Medium Tank Battalion until finishing her tour on December 23rd, 1952. All the punishing she received surely made her especially dangerous to her crew, who might have breathed in higher quantities of asbestos dust than other mariners who served on Victory-class ships. Veterans with asbestos-related illnesses deserve compensation. In addition to filing for veterans benefits with the Department of Veterans Affairs, they may also seek compensation by filing asbestos-related claims against asbestos trusts.
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