The USS Alkaid (AK-114), a Crater-class cargo ship was laid down as SS William G. Sumner under a Maritime Commission contract (MCE hull 1211). After the US Navy acquired the ship on November 19, 1943, the ship was converted for Naval service at Gibbs Gas Engine Co., and then commissioned on March 27, 1944, under the command of FL. LCDR. Edward G. Gummer. The ship was used to deliver goods, troops, and equipment to the war zones. The USS Alkaid (AK-114) served the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II and participated in the Okinawa Gunto operation. After World War II, the ship was assigned to the Far East for Occupation service and then got decommissioned on March 11, 1946, in San Francisco, CA. The ship got struck from Naval Register on March 28, 1946, and finally was sold for scrapping to National Metal and Steel Co., on April 20, 1964. Almost every job at the shipyard posed a substantial danger of asbestos exposure, including pipe covers, shipwrights, pipefitters, boiler workers, carpenters, engine room mechanics, electricians, insulators, maintenance mechanics, millwrights, sheet metal workers, and welders. Despite the fact that asbestos is no longer utilized in ship construction, the substance has not been fully eliminated from all ships.
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