The USS Waukesha (AKA-84) was a Tolland-class attack cargo ship laid down on July 3, 1944, and launched on September 6, the same year. It was commissioned the same year under Lt. Comdr. John S. Herold’s command and served in the US Navy for 2 years until it was decommissioned on July 10, 1946. It carried a complement of 395 men on board and operated in Panama, Okinawa, Eniwetok, Ulithi, and Buckner Bay. After decommissioning, the USS Waukesha was struck from the Navy List on July 31, 1946. Later, the ship was sold to Luckenbach Steamship Co. where it was renamed SS Mary Luckenbach. Many of the materials used to insulate hulls, pipes, incinerators, and boilers throughout the ships built between the 1930s and the 1970s contained asbestos. One of the more common asbestos-related ailments that impact many Navy veterans is asbestosis - a type of pulmonary fibrosis due to the scarring of lung tissue over time, which can cause wheezing, shortness of breath, and persistent chest pain.
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