The USS Harry E. Yarnell (DLG/CG-17) was a Leahy-class guided-missile cruiser laid down on May 31, 1960, and launched on December 9, the following year. It was commissioned on February 2, 1963, under Capt. Charles E. Nelson’s command as DLG-17 and served in the U.S. Navy for 30 years until it was decommissioned on October 20, 1993. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 395 people on board and had its main missions in Guantanamo Bay, Norfolk, Amsterdam, the Gulf of Mexico, Boston, and Poland. After decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on October 29, 1993, and sold for scrapping to Quonset Point in 1995. Once asbestos is inhaled, it cannot be eliminated from the body, it settles into the lining of the lungs, abdomen, or heart causing genetic and cellular damage over the years. Although most manufacturers no longer use asbestos in their products today, older vessels that were modernized during refits still contain tons of asbestos.
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