SS Oshkosh Victory (V-808) Areas With Asbestos Exposure

The SS Oshkosh Victory (V-808) was one of the last Victory ships to be completed at the California Shipbuilding Yard, entering service on the 10th of September 1945, just five days before the Japanese surrender that would end the war. She activated mainly in the Pacific, transporting supplies for the war-thorn areas in East Asia and then to the UN force in Korea between 1950 and 1952. The only battle damage she received was in peacetime when hitting a mine on the Yangtze River. This luckily left her crew unscathed but there is little doubt it gave the ship quite the shake.

Considering that toxic asbestos was amply used throughout her construction, sudden trepidations were particularly dangerous for the people manning the SS Oshkosh Victory (V-808), as this would have released a lot of fibers of the carcinogenic minerals into the air. Most piping on the ship was lined with asbestos, as well as all pieces of equipment that were prone to heating up, like boilers, the engine, and electronics.