The USS Hollis was a Buckley-class destroyer escort laid down on July 5, 1943, and launched on September 11, the same year. It was commissioned on January 24, 1944, under Lt. Cmdr. G. D. Kissam’s command with the hull number DE-794 and served in the US Navy for 12 years until it was decommissioned on October 16, 1956. Meanwhile, the ship was reclassified as a high-speed transport with the hull number APD-86. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 213 men on board and had its main missions in Casablanca, New York, southern France, Miami, Tokyo Bay, Florida, and Boston. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy Register on September 15, 1974, and sold for scrapping one year later.
The beginning of the 20th century brought suspicions regarding the health hazards posed by asbestos. The U.S. Navy was among the most reticent, yet until the early 1980s, asbestos was used in hundreds of products with serious health risks for the people working close by.
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