As the sense of urgency which characterized American shipbuilding philosophy during WWII was waning down towards the end of the war, the USNS Lt. George W.G. Boyce (T-AK-251) took some four months between being laid down, in Bethlehem Fairfield and being delivered to her operator on October 15th, 1945. It served under the War Shipping Administration until the institution was disbanded and then transferred to the Army Transportation Service and renamed after a Medal of Honor holder, Lt. George W.G. Boyce. Placed in reserve in early 1950, she wouldn’t have to wait long until being called to action once Communist North Korea launched its invasion on the southern part of the peninsula in the spring of the same year. She will serve in the Western Pacific for the whole duration of the war, delivering cargo to Japan, South Korea, Formosa, and Okinawa, but also American bases in the Aleutians. Transferred to the Atlantic after the war, she will return to Asia many times between 1964 and 1969 in support of the American intervention in Vietnam. She will earn no less than ten medals during her career but her otherwise distinguished service is shadowed by the possible ill effects the large concentration of asbestos dust tainting the air onboard might have had on the health of her crew.
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