The USS Burlington (PF-51) was a Tacoma-class frigate laid down and launched in 1943 and commissioned in 1944. After shakedown, the ship departed for World War II Pacific escort missions supporting New Guinea and Leyte operations. After repairs, she then served in the Aleutians before transfer preparations and Soviet crew training in 1945. Following the completion of the training, the frigate was decommissioned the same year and transferred to the Soviet Union along with her sister ships. The Navy began negotiations for the return of loaned ships in 1946, among them the USS Burlington, which was finally returned in 1949. For the Korean War, she was then overhauled and recommissioned in 1951 at Yokosuka. The ship then deployed to the waters off Korea, operated in Wonsan Harbor and off Songjin, bombarded shore targets, served as a harbor entrance control vessel, and performed patrol and escort duties. The vessel underwent repairs and an overhaul while in the Korean War theatre, and conducted exercises off the west coast of Luzon before her decommissioning in 1952. The USS Burlington was stricken from the Navy List a year later. Frigates of WW2 were constructed with extensive amounts of asbestos-containing materials, exposing service members to inhaling or ingesting toxic asbestos dust.
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