The USS Parle (DE-708) was a Rudderow-class destroyer escort laid down on January 8, 1944, and launched on March 25, the same year. It was commissioned on July 29, 1944, under Lt. Comdr. James C. Toft’s command as DE-708 and served in the U.S. Navy for 21 years until it was decommissioned on July 1, 1970. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 221 people on board and had its main missions in Louisiana, Bermuda, Galapagos, Bora Bora, Manus, Palau Islands, Kossol Roads, Ulithi, New Guinea, Hollandia, Okinawa, and Korea. After the decommissioning, the ship was used as a target during some training exercises in Florida the same year. Although it was once lauded for its versatility, affordability, and heat resistance, asbestos is now an infamous public health menace. Between the 1930s and the 1970s, there were more than 3,300 different products used by the military that included asbestos in them. Asbestos covered ships from bow to stern - there was asbestos in the boiler rooms, engine rooms, weapons and ammunition storage rooms, and other places that needed heat resistance.
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