USS Pyro (AE–24), a Nitro-class ammunition ship, is the second ship of the US Navy named Pyro. It was laid down on 21 October 1957 by Bethlehem-Sparrows Point Shipyard, Inc., and commissioned on 24 July 1959 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The ship had previously assigned tasks in the Service Force, fulfilling replenishment services to various units of the 7th Fleet. After a three-month overhaul at Willamette Iron and Steel Co. Shipyard, Pyro departed on her second WestPac deployment in 1961 and serviced units of the 7th Fleet again. In 1963 the ship underwent the installation of a revolutionary new weapons transfer system called Fast Automatic Shuttle Transfer at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard and made her fourth WestPac deployment in1964. In the 1970s, the vessel had annual deployments providing vital underway ammunition replenishment services for the Pacific Fleet. It was decommissioned in 1994 and struck from the Naval Register in 1997. Since asbestos was present on the Pyro, all those who served on the ship were inevitably exposed and risk developing lung cancer or mesothelioma. They should seek medical attention as soon as possible, as diseases due to asbestos exposure are often asymptomatic.
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