As another Haskell-class attack transport ship, the USS Kenton was named after the Kenton County of Kentucky. The ship was built in 1944 by the California Shipbuilding Corporation and served during World War II, activity for which it earned one battle star. Asbestos, a naturally occurring mineral, was heavily employed by the U.S. Navy during the last century for the convenient properties it has, such as resistance to fire, electricity and certain chemicals. However, asbestos is a known human carcinogen and exposure to it can lead to awful diseases such as lung cancer or mesothelioma. Thereby, people who were aboard the USS Kenton were inevitably exposed to asbestos to a great extent and they should regularly undergo medical examination, as diseases which stem from asbestos exposure take between 20 and 50 years to develop. In 1973, the USS Kenton was sold to the Union Minerals and Alloys Corporation to be scrapped.
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