The USS Woodford (AKA-86) was a Tolland-class attack cargo ship laid down on July 17, 1944, and launched on October 5, the same year. It was commissioned the next year under Capt. Winston P. Folk’s command and served in the US Navy for 1 year until it was decommissioned on May 1, 1946. It carried a complement of 395 men on board and operated in Norfolk, the Panama Canal, Pearl Harbor, Okinawa, and the Marshalls. After decommissioning, the USS Woodford was struck from the Navy List on May 8, 1946. Later, the ship was sold to A. H. Bull Steamship Co. in 1947. Asbestos has been in use in the United States since the late 1800s. World War II greatly expanded its use as it was incorporated into ships and military equipment. The United States and international health and environmental agencies classify asbestos as a carcinogen, or a substance known to cause cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, for example, determined that breathing in asbestos fibers causes mesothelioma and cancer of the lung, larynx, and ovary.
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