Founded in 1830 by William Cramp, the shipyard was the finest iron shipbuilder of the late 19th century in America. Cramp Shipbuilding Company was located in Kensington, Philadelphia. In 1890, the shipyard built the battleships USS Indiana and USS Massachusetts, the armored cruiser USS New York, and the protected cruiser USS Columbia. These ships partook in the battle with the Spanish fleet in 1898 at Santiago de Cuba. However, the workers of Cramp Shipbuilding Company were heavily exposed to asbestos on the job, as the carcinogenic mineral was everywhere, particularly in the air they were breathing, as they had no protective gear. Asbestos is responsible for a wide range of life-threatening lung diseases, such as lung cancer and mesothelioma.
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