The USS Atule (SS/AGSS-403), a Balao-class submarine, was laid down in 1943, launched, and commissioned in 1944. After shakedown training, the ship sailed to the Pacific, where she joined operations against Japanese shipping. The submarine also performed rescue duties and even assisted a B-29 aircraft in downing a Japanese plane. In 1945, she sank Coast Defense Vessel No. 6. After Japan’s surrender, the vessel returned to Pearl Harbor and later to New London for training duties. In 1946, she joined Operation Nanook to support Arctic weather stations and research, operating near Greenland for testing equipment for measuring ice thickness. After later modernization and recommissioning in 1951, the submarine served in NATO exercises, Mediterranean deployments, antisubmarine training, and goodwill missions. The USS Atule was redesignated AGSS-403 and decommissioned in 1970; she was struck from the Register in 1973. Navy ships built before the 1980s contained asbestos in numerous materials, routinely exposing shipyard workers and sailors to asbestos dust, the cause of their asbestos-related illnesses decades after service. Veterans with medical proof of service-related asbestos exposure may qualify for VA disability compensation and healthcare benefits, in addition to asbestos trust fund compensation.
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