The USS Bushnell (AS-15) was a Fulton-class submarine tender launched in 1942 and commissioned a year later. From 1943 to 1948, she operated in the Pacific, arriving at Pearl Harbor to serve as the tender and staff headquarters for Submarine Squadron 14, and delivered supplies and structural materials to Midway. The vessel later supported expanding submarine operations at Majuro Atoll, which became a key submarine base dependent on the submarine tender for logistics and maintenance. She continued refitting submarines returning from war patrols until the end of World War II. In early 1946, the ship was sent to Guam to support submarines involved in the post-war occupation of Japan. The tender ship later served with Submarine Squadron 1 until preparations for her decommissioning began in late 1947, and inactivation in 1948. Recommissioned in 1952, she joined Submarine Squadron 12 and remained active for nearly two decades. In early 1970, a ruptured high-pressure air line caused an explosion and fire that left her beyond repair. The USS Bushnell was decommissioned that year and struck from the Register in 1980. Given the extensive use of asbestos on Navy vessels built before the 1980s, veterans risked inhaling or ingesting the toxic fibers responsible for devastating diseases.
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