The USS Austin (LPD-4) was the lead ship of her class of amphibious transport dock ships, the third vessel to have this name. She was laid down in 1963, launched in 1964, and commissioned a year later. Between 1965 and 1966, the ship operated in the Norfolk area before entering the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for repairs and alterations after shakedown training. With modifications complete, she sailed for the Caribbean, operating there until the 1970s in withdrawal of units, carrying naval personnel and equipment, taking part in amphibious warfare training, and as a recovery ship supporting the Apollo 12 space shot. During the 1970s, the vessel was part of large-scale landing exercises in the Caribbean and carried ammunition before her overhaul. In the 1980s, she was on Mediterranean deployments and participated in cold weather training in the Arctic Circle. She played an essential role during the Iraqi War in the 1900s and supported operations in Kosovo in the 2000s. The USS Austin was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Register in 2006. As ships aged and deteriorated, the chances of asbestos exposure increased for all naval personnel, along with the risk of lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma, among many other asbestos-related diseases.
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