The USS Requisite (AM-109) was an Auk-class minesweeper, laid down in 1941, launched in 1942, and commissioned in 1943. Following shakedown and training in Hawaiian waters, she participated in the invasion of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. A year later, the minesweeper underwent an overhaul, then proceeded west to support the amphibious assault on Leyte in the Philippines. In 1945, she cleared mines for the Lingayen Gulf landings. After this, the vessel joined the Battle of Okinawa and later performed minesweeping in the East China Sea and around Japan. Returning to the US in 1946, she was assigned target towing duties with the Atlantic Fleet. Decommissioned in 1947, she joined the US Navy’s Reserve Fleet but was re-commissioned as a survey ship in 1950. She was deployed to the Caribbean and was redesignated AGS-18 in 1951. The ship transferred to the Pacific in 1956, where she completed scientific surveys from the Arctic to the tropics. The USS Requisite was decommissioned and struck from the Register in 1964. Asbestos was prevalent in Navy ships built before the 1980s, endangering the health of naval personnel. Inhaling or ingesting asbestos fibers can lead to several serious diseases, including mesothelioma, a devastating cancer without a cure.
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