The USS O'Toole (DE-527) was an Evarts-class destroyer escort laid down on September 25, 1943, and launched on November 2, the same year. It was commissioned on February 22, 1944, under Lt. Cmdr. J. G. Enzensperger’s command as DE-527 and served in the U.S. Navy for one year until it was decommissioned on October 18, 1945. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 198 people on board and had its main missions in Bermuda, Charleston, Boston, New York, Norfolk, Algeria, Casco Bay, Miami, and New England. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on November 1, 1945, and sold for scrapping in 1946. Favored for its fire and corrosive-resistant properties, asbestos was considered an ideal building material for ships. It was used to insulate hulls, pipes, incinerators, and boilers and in materials such as gaskets, valves, and cement throughout the ship. Virtually every occupation at the shipyard was at risk of significant asbestos exposure, including pipe covers, shipwrights, pipefitters, boiler workers, engine operators, electricians, insulators, maintenance mechanics, welders, and hull maintenance workers.
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