The USS Moose (IX-124) was an Armadillo-class tanker designated an unclassified miscellaneous vessel. Originally named Mason L. Weems, the ship was renamed Moose on 27 October 1943. The Armadillo-class of tankers was a class of type Z-ET1-S-C3 Liberty ships tankers that served in the U.S. Navy during the Second World War. The USS Moose (IX-124) keel was laid down on 1 November 1943 under a Maritime Commission contract by Delta S.B. Shipbuilder Company, New Orleans, Louisiana, launched on 1 November 1943 and commissioned on 28 January 1944 with Lieutenant Gerald E. Spencer in command. The ship departed Balboa, Panama Canal Zone, on 15 March 1944 for the South Pacific. Upon arrival to New Caledonia in November, she reported to Commander, Southern Pacific, for duty as a mobile floating oil storage ship. The USS Moose (IX-124) was just one of many navy ships built at a time when the use of asbestos was abundant. Navy personnel who worked below decks including boiler rooms, engine rooms, and ammunition storage rooms, were especially vulnerable to asbestos exposure. Many remember sleeping in bunks underneath asbestos-covered pipes that required then to shake the dusty material off bunks on a daily basis.
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