The USS Naos (AK-105), a Crater-class cargo ship was laid down on June 8, 1943, as SS William R. Nelson, under a Maritime Commission contract and was launched on June 30, 1943. The U.S. Navy acquired the ship on July 15, 1943, and converted it for Naval service at Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp., San Pedro, CA. It was commissioned on August 17, 1943, under LCDR. Norman E. Wilcox’s command and served in the U.S. Navy for two years until it was decommissioned on December 6, 1945, in San Francisco, CA. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 190 men on board and it had the main missions in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and the Far East. Asbestos was utilized in a wide variety of applications aboard ships, both military and civilian, including engine rooms, turbines, boilers, pumps, valves, gaskets, packaging, cables, pipelines, and electrical equipment. Additionally, military ships utilized asbestos-containing materials in their ammunition stores and weaponry. Marines and other military personnel on military ships may also have been exposed. Unfortunately, the manufacturers whose products contained asbestos or required the use of asbestos did not provide any warnings to Navy personnel regarding the dangers of asbestos.
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