The USS Puget Sound (CVE-13) was a Commencement Bay-class escort carrier laid down on May 12, 1944, and launched on November 20, the same year. It was commissioned on June 18, 1945, with the hull number CVE-113 under Capt. Charles F. Coe’s command and served in the US Navy for 1 year until it was decommissioned on October 18, 1946. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 1066 men on board and had its main missions in San Diego, Hawaii, Tokyo Bay, Nagoya, Hong Kong, Guam, Pearl Harbor, Okinawa, Alameda, and Matsuyama. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on June 1, 1960, and sold for scrapping in Hong Kong. During World War II, asbestos was used by the Navy aboard ships for insulating high-pressure steam lines, exhaust pipes, and other areas requiring high-temperature insulation. Shipbuilding workers handling the material performed tasks such as laying out and cutting, sewing and preparing of encasements, cement mixing, molding, grinding, and installation. Direct contact with asbestos as a consequence of these activities resulted in human exposure to airborne asbestos fibers.
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