The SS George Washington Carver was a Liberty Ship built under a MARCOM contract to be used in World War II. The ship was named in honor of George Washington Carver, an American botanist, inventor, and environmentalist that developed techniques to prevent soil depletion caused by repeated plantings of cotton in the late 1890s and early 1900. Initially, the ship was used in the war as a merchant ship, but it was allocated by the War Shipping Administration to the US Army and served as a hospital ship under the name of USAHS Dogwood. After the war, the ship was no longer needed as a hospital ship and was converted to carry troops and military dependents. The SS George Washington Carver entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, California in 1947 and was scrapped in January 1964. More than 300 different asbestos-containing materials were used in Navy ships - the intention was to make the ships safer, but it caused long-term health issues for those aboard the ships. The pipes, boilers, paneling, adhesives, and insulating materials are just a few examples of asbestos-covered materials aboard Navy ships from the early 1940s through the late 1970s.
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