The USS Borum was named after a junior Lieutenant who died as a result of the merchantman he was accompanying being sunk. The ship was built by Consolidated Steel Corp. of Orange, Texas, and commissioned with the USNR on November 30, 1943. Serving as a training ship and in escort missions along the US Eastern seaboard and the Caribbean, she didn’t cross the Atlantic until March 1944. After some more training, she took part in Overlord beginning in June 1944, escorting transports supplying the Allied Western front from Britain to the beachheads in Normandy. The following year saw her enforce the blockade of the Channel Islands and conduct escort missions to Cherbourg and Le Havre. After a short stint assisting British troupes in their occupation of the Channel Islands, she will head for the US to be transitioned into high-speed transport. This order was canceled following the end of the war, and she conducted a short period of training before finally being decommissioned in 1946. Asbestos could have been found throughout the ship: in the engine room, pump room, and boiler room. It was lining pipes and some electrical cables. Nearly all gaskets were coated in it to prevent corrosion. Asbestos was also mixed into the paint and could be released as it flaked.
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