The USS Artisan, or ABSD-1, was an auxiliary floating dry-dock with 10 sections, without self-propulsion. It was built in sections for almost a year during 1942 and 1943 in Everett, Washington, in Eureka, California, in Stockton, California, and in Morgan City, Louisiana. From the beginning, it had a very unfortunate fate because one of the sections sunk during some assembly procedures, killing 13 men on board. It was laid down in 1942 and 1943 and commissioned on May 10, 1943, and served for 44 years before being decommissioned on March 1, 1987, and struck from the register the same day. Nonetheless, it was reinstated the same year in March, which led to its reclassification as follows: section C to IX-525 in 1998, and section D to IX-521 in 1996. It should be noted that asbestos materials were prevalent on virtually every new vessel produced by the United States Navy between World War II and the late 1970s. Even Navy members who served on ships less than 30 years ago could have been exposed to asbestos. Navy vessels that used asbestos included aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, submarines, destroyers, minesweepers, frigates, amphibious warships, escort carriers, cargo ships, repair ships, and hospital ships.
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