The SS R. Ney McNeely was a Liberty ship, built in the United States during WWII. The name was given in honor of Ney McNeely, who was a State Representative in North Carolina, a member of the senate and later, a Consul in Aden. It was the 25th vessel built in Brunswick, Georgia that got launched on January 29, 1944. The ship was delivered to a civilian crew provided by the South Atlantic Steamship Company, who went sailing on a convoy to Russia. After the war ended, she was consigned to the Wilmington, North Carolina National Reserve Fleet and then transferred to the US Navy in 1955. On 12 March 1965, the SS R. Ney McNeely was transferred to the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group, Lee Hall, Virginia. A few years later, in 1972, she was sold to the Union Minerals & Alloy Corp. to be scrapped. She was withdrawn from the fleet in the same year. Like most ships constructed in that period, the SS. R Ney McNeely contained asbestos, which was used as insulation on various components below deck as well as above. Workers aboard the ship were heavily exposed to asbestos fibers and at the risk of developing serious diseases as a result of servicing boilers, engines, pipes and other components insulated with asbestos.
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