The USS Preserver (ARS-8) was a Diver-class rescue and salvage ship during World War II. Laid down in 1942, launched in 1943, and commissioned in 1944, the vessel began operations in the Pacific. After shakedown training, the ship initially sailed for Pearl Harbor but was briefly recalled before departing again with YOG-18 in tow. She joined Service Squadron 2 and later deployed to the Marshall Islands, where she conducted salvage work around Majuro, Eniwetok, and Kwajalein. During the 1944 invasion of Saipan, the vessel provided offshore salvage support and sent a firefighting party ashore after Japanese snipers triggered a large ammunition dump explosion near the beach. Following the war, she was deactivated but returned to service during the Korean War, recommissioned in 1950, and reassigned to the Atlantic Fleet’s Service Force. Over the following decades, the ship served on Atlantic and Mediterranean deployments and on recovery operations after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. The USS Preserver was decommissioned in 1992 and struck from the Register in 1994. Because the ship served during World War II and the Korean War—when asbestos insulation was widely used in naval vessels—crew members may have been exposed to hazardous asbestos dust linked to serious long-term health effects.
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