The USS Louisville (CL/CA-28) was a Northampton-class cruiser laid down on July 4, 1928, and launched on September 1, 1930. It was commissioned on January 15, the following year under Capt. Edward John Marquart’s command as CA-28 and served in the U.S. Navy for 15 years until it was decommissioned on June 17, 1946. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 691 people on board and had its main missions in San Francisco, Alaska, Hawaii, Guadalcanal, Sydney, Bahia, Borneo, and the Marshalls. After decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on March 1, 1959, and sold for scrapping to Marlene Blouse Corporation the same year. For the services brought to the country during World War II, the USS Louisville received 13 battle stars. More than any other service member, the Navy is at a high risk of suffering the consequences of asbestos exposure. Although it is a known carcinogen, asbestos was frequently used throughout ships and in shipyards, where service members worked in tight quarters and breathed in microscopic asbestos fibers without knowing the risks. If you served in the U.S. Navy between World War II and the end of the Vietnam War, you are susceptible to exposure by unknowingly inhaling the fibers. Once asbestos fibers enter the lungs, they can stay there forever.
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