The USS Lyman (DE-302) was an Evarts-class destroyer escort laid down on April 22, 1943, and launched on August 19, the same year. It was commissioned on February 19, 1944, under Lt. Cmdr. John D. Lawson’s command as DE-302 and served in the U.S. Navy for one year until it was decommissioned on December 5, 1945. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 198 people on board and had its main missions in Iwo Jima, San Francisco, Okinawa, Ulithi, Manus, Pearl Harbor, the Palaus, Kossol Passage, Luzon, and Lingayen Gulf. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on December 19, 1945, and sold for scrapping the following year. For the services brought to the country during World War II, the USS Lyman received 5 battle stars. Ship hulls, engine areas, and boiler rooms were cramped spaces with poor ventilation which trapped airborne asbestos fibers. While asbestos materials were also present on the upper deck, wind prevented asbestos fibers from lingering in the air where they could be inhaled by the workers and service members. Asbestos can cause several different medical problems, depending on where the needle-like fibers become trapped in the body.
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