The USS Takanis Bay (CVE-89) (also CVU-89) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier laid down on December 16, 1943, and launched on March 10, the following year. It was commissioned on April 15, 1944, with the hull number CVE-89 under Capt. A. R. Brady’s command and served in the US Navy for 2 years until it was decommissioned on June 18, 1946. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on August 1, 1959, and sold for scrapping to Hyman-Michaels Company in Chicago.
All branches of the military used asbestos particularly during World War II, but the U.S. Navy used asbestos extensively in shipbuilding, maintenance, and repair. Asbestos-containing materials can be found particularly in fire-prone areas such as ships’ engineering spaces, boiler rooms, and navigation rooms. Consequently, many Navy personnel assigned to refit or repair naval vessels were exposed before the health risks of asbestos were officially acknowledged in the mid-1970s.