Primarily a builder of fishing boats, Bender Shipyard was founded in 1928 in Mobile, Alabama. However, when that market was no longer profitable, it switched to manufacturing offshore service vessels for the U.S. Navy. Because the record of Bender Shipyard was very uneven, it closed in 2010. Signal International acquired the majority of the assets. Unfortunately, people who had a job at Bender Shipyard were heavily exposed to asbestos, a very toxic and also carcinogenic mineral. For instance, boilermakers had to apply insulation on the products in which raw asbestos fibers had previously been poured. This made the inhalation of asbestos fibers inevitable, which is alarming, as most diseases resulting from asbestos exposure affect the lungs.