The USS Fall River (CA-131) was a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser laid down on April 12, 1943, and launched on August 13, 1944. It was commissioned on July 1, the following year under Capt. David Stolz Crawford’s command as CA-131 and served in the U.S. Navy for 2 years until it was decommissioned on October 31, 1947. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 1,142 people on board and had its main missions in Norfolk, the Marshalls, San Pedro, Pearl Harbor, Puget Sound, and New York. After decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy Register on February 19, 1971, and sold for scrapping to the Zidell Explorations Corporation in Portland the following year. Shipfitters, boiler workers, pipefitters, insulators, welders, hull maintenance technicians, damage contromen, seamen, and naval engineers are some of the most common professions named in the lists of occupations or work environments leading to asbestos contamination. Veterans who served in the U.S. Navy who have been discharged under honorable conditions may be entitled to compensation if they are suffering from an asbestos-related disease such as lung cancer, asbestosis, or mesothelioma.
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