The USS Nitro (AE–23) was an ammunition ship laid down by Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Sparrows Point Shipyard in 1957, launched in 1958, and commissioned in 1959. After shakedown in the Caribbean, the ship joined the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean in 1960 and sailed back to the Caribbean to support 2nd Fleet exercises in 1962. She steamed for an operational and goodwill visit to Northern Europe the same year. The vessel entered in reserve for conversion at Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in 1966 and was recommissioned "special" in 1967. Between 1972 and 1973, the ship fulfilled duty off the coast of both South and North Vietnam, conducting underway replenishment operations. During the 1980s, the vessel operated in the Mediterranean, alternating her service with the 2nd and 6th Fleets until the 1990s. The USS Nitro was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register in 1995; she was scrapped in 2008. Anyone responsible for removing or installing asbestos products on Navy vessels built before asbestos regulations was at high risk of exposure, as shipbuilding used tons of the toxic material. It is why Navy veterans make up the highest percentage of patients with asbestos-related diseases compared to other branches of the military.
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