The USS Vermillion (CVE-52) was a Bogue-class escort aircraft carrier laid down on May 10, 1943, and launched on September 27, the same year. It was commissioned on January 20, 1944, as HMS Smiter with the hull number D-55 under the United Kingdom’s flag and served in the Royal Navy for 2 years until it was returned to the US Navy on April 6, 1946. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 890 men on board. After the decommissioning, the ship was sold to be converted into a merchant ship in 1947 to Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Norfolk.
Navy veterans risked asbestos exposure in a number of ways during their service, including in ship’s engine, boiler, ammunition rooms, while maintaining a ship’s equipment, or performing activities like sanding asbestos paint and grinding asbestos floor tiles. If you or a family member is a Navy veteran who developed an asbestos-related illness, you can recover the financial security you need to cope with medical costs and other related expenses.
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