Commissioned on the 25th of October 1944, the USS Magoffin (APA-199) was to serve with distinction in all the major American wars that followed until 1968. During landing in Okinawa, she assisted with downing a number of Japanese planes and was the first ship in her division to be unloaded, for which she received a battle star. She continued to ferry troops over the Pacific until decommission in March 1946. Reactivated for the Korean War, she participated in the landings at Bussan and will end up earning two battle stars during the campaign. After taking part in nuclear testing in the Western Pacific throughout 1958 she will head for the Persian Gulf with a load of troops intended to provide security in Lebanon and Jordan. The Tonkin Gulf incident will see her return to the Pacific with troops and supplies. Decommissioned from military service in 1968, she will operate as a civilian cargo ship until scrapped in 1980. Her striking out came just before the Navy started retiring and retrofitting vessels where asbestos was used as an insulator. The dangerous mineral lined all areas of the ship, from the engine compartments to the foreword twin deck, and given her length of service, there’s no telling how many sailors had been affected.
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