The SS Patrick Henry was a Liberty ship built during World War II and launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself. Built by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation at their Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland, the SS Patrick Henry was the first Liberty ship launched. The ship survived the war but was seriously damaged when she went aground on a reef off the coast of Florida in July 1946. She was laid up at Mobile, Alabama, and was scrapped at Baltimore in 1958. Because of its incredible physical properties, asbestos was present in every corner of ships from that era. There was no escaping asbestos exposure for many Navy veterans, the toxic mineral could be found in every part of the ship, including storage rooms, mess halls, navigation rooms, and sleeping quarters. Asbestos fibers are tiny and cannot be seen with the naked eye in most cases. Still, they can be breathed in or ingested, and lead to deadly cancers much later in life.
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