The USS Saginaw Bay (CVE-82) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier laid down on November 1, 1943, and launched on January 19, the following year. It was commissioned on March 2, 1944, with the hull number CVE-82 under Capt. Frank C. Sutton’s command and served in the US Navy for 2 years until it was decommissioned on 19 June 1946. During its activity, the ship carried a complement of 916 men on board and had its main missions in Alameda, Eniwetok, Manus, Ulithi, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Guam, San Pedro, Hawaii, and Boston. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on March 1, 1959, and sold for scrapping to Louis Simons in November 1959. For the services brought to the country during World War II, the USS Saginaw Bay received 5 battle stars. Thousands of people employed in U.S. shipyards and U.S. Navy were exposed to asbestos since it was used extensively in ship construction. Consequently, many Navy veterans found themselves exposed to the carcinogen daily during the military service, from serving on a ship, to the frequent repairs and refit of damaged materials containing asbestos, to stripping vessels in shipyards.
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