The USS Salmon (SS-182) received numerous awards during its activity, namely 9 battle stars for World War II service in the Asiatic-Pacific area and the Presidential Unit Citation. It was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the salmon, a soft-finned, game fish that inhabits the coasts of America and Europe in northern latitudes and ascends rivers for the purpose of spawning. After shakedown training and trials along the Atlantic coast from the West Indies to Nova Scotia, the ship joined Submarine Division 15, Squadron 6 of the Submarine Force, U.S. Fleet, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The ship was built in 1936 by the Electric Boat Company, which is why asbestos exposure may have represented a problem for the people who served on it. The submarine was decommissioned in 1945 and broken up for scrap one year later. Almost all of the equipment and machinery, valves, fittings, and pipe connections on the USS Salmon (SS-182) contained asbestos. Asbestos fibers that become lodged in a lung have the capacity to develop into lung cancer; it may take years for the fibers to cause tumors to form. If you think you were exposed to asbestos while serving aboard the USS Salmon (SS-182), you should inform your physician and have regular physical exams.
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