The USS Cooner (DE-172) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort laid down on February 22, 1943, and launched on July 23, the same year. It was commissioned on August 21, 1943, under Lt. Cmdr. J. M. Stuart’s command with the hull number DE-172 and it served in the U.S. Navy for 3 years until it was decommissioned on June 25, 1946. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 216 onboard and had its main missions in Saipan, Ulithi, Charleston, Guam, Pearl Harbor, San Diego, and Okinawa. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on July 1, 1972, and sold in 1973. It is now widely known that exposure to airborne asbestos particles is a leading cause of scarring and thickening of lung tissue, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring fibrous minerals, and its threads have excellent chemical, water, and heat resistance properties. The mineral is most dangerous when friable, or easily crumbled, and this usually occurs due to repairs and consolidation work or during the dismantling of old ships for salvage or scrap.
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