The USS Leonard Wood (APA-12) was a Harris- class attack transport laid down on July 29, 1920, and launched on September 17, 1921. It was commissioned on June 10, 1941, with the hull number APA-21 and it served in the US Navy for 5 years until it was decommissioned on March 22, 1946. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 724 people on board and had its main missions in Cristobal, Halifax, Bombay, Singapore, North Africa, Fedhala, Sicily, Honolulu, Tarawa, the Gilberts, the Marshalls, Saipan, the Palaus, and the Philippines. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on April 12, 1946, and sold for scrapping in 1948 to Consolidated Builders. For the services brought to the country during World War II, the USS Leonard Wood received 8 battle stars. On land and at sea, asbestos-containing products were incorporated into virtually every aspect of shipbuilding, operation, maintenance, and repair, from fireproofing of the hulls and munitions compartments to the insulation of boiler rooms, from asbestos-laden electric boards in radio control shacks to asbestos-insulation covered steam pipes snaking through sleeping billets and other close quarters, from welding blankets used to protect shipbuilders from heat and sparks to a ship’s kitchen ovens in which the daily bread was baked.
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