The USS Crouter (DE-11) was an Evarts-class destroyer escort laid down on February 8, 1942, and launched on January 26, the following year. It was commissioned on May 25, 1943, under Lt. J. E. Johansen’s command with the hull number DE-11 and served in the U.S. Navy for 2 years until it was decommissioned on November 30, 1945. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 198 people on board and had its main missions in California, Boston, Noumea, Efate, Espiritu Santo, Viti Levu, Fiji Islands, Pearl Harbor, Majuro, San Pedro, Okinawa, Saipan, Ulithi, and New Hebrides. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on December 19, 1945, and sold for scrapping the following year. Those working in shipyards between the 1930s and the 1980s were almost certainly exposed to asbestos regardless of their specific profession, including electricians, painters, insulation workers, machinists, mechanics, pipefitters, plumbers, electricians, and welders, due to the close proximity in which everyone works in shipyards and the fact that almost every worker used asbestos-containing materials and products as part of their job.
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