Named after the Hocking County of Ohio, this was a Haskell-class attack transport ship. The USS Hocking was laid down in 1944 by the California Shipbuilding Corporation as a Victory ship and was sponsored by Miss Frances Sims. It served during World War II and received two battle stars for the outstanding activities it performed throughout the battle. Since it was built in the middle of the last century, when asbestos was a highly prevalent material in the U.S. Navy, people who served on the USS Hocking were inevitably exposed to the carcinogenic mineral, which now places them at great risk for developing terrible diseases such as lung cancer. Some of the parts of the ship where asbestos was present in large amounts were the engine room, the damage control room, the pump room and the propulsion room. In 1974, the USS Hocking was sold for scrap.
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