USNS Provo (T-AG-173) Areas With Asbestos Exposure

The USNS Provo (T-AG-173) was initially built as a Victory ship throughout the spring of 1945 by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation. She served with the Merchant Marine – the branch of service that suffered proportionally the biggest casualties during the war – and was acquired by the Military Sea Transportation Service in March 1963, re-baptized as USNS Provo (T-AG-173), and designated as a Special Project Ship (Pheonix-class). Her task was a lot more mundane than it sounds. She was basically a floating depot, placed off the coast of the Philippines to provide military material for contingencies, which she did in 1964 for operation “Quick Release”. During the American phase of the Indochina war, she acted as a point to point cargo carrier, making deliveries from Japan and the Subic Bay to Vietnam. The USNS Provo (T-AG-173) was sold in August 1973, at which point her history became uncertain. Like with all Victory ships, asbestos was heavily used throughout the ship's construction, and her maintenance crews could have inhaled the toxic vapors while handling asbestos-containing products.