The USS Bristol County (LST-1198) was the last of the United States Navy's twenty Newport-class tank landing ships that replaced the old bow door-style tank landing ships (LSTs). The ship was built in San Diego, California by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company. It was commissioned into the USN in 1972 after being launched in 1971. The USS Bristol County (LST-1198) served in the United States Pacific Fleet and was decommissioned in 1994. That year, the vessel was sold to Morocco and recommissioned as Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah in the Royal Moroccan Navy.
Throughout the majority of the twentieth century, the United States Navy was a major user of asbestos-containing material (ACM). Asbestos posed a particular threat to people working in cramped locations, such as the rooms beneath the deck, due to the spaces' inadequate ventilation. Nowadays, many veterans developed serious respiratory diseases following asbestos exposure during the shipbuilding process, the maintenance, or the reconditioning of a ship.
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