The USS Shenandoah (AD-26) was a Shenandoah-class destroyer tender laid down on September 16, 1944, and launched on March 29, the following year. It was commissioned on August 13, 1945, under Capt. Albert C. Burrows’ command with the hull number AD-26 and served in the U.S. Navy for 35 years until it was decommissioned on April 1, 1980. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 1,035 people on board and had its main missions in the Panama Canal, Norfolk, and Naples. After decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on April 1, 1980, and sold for scrapping in 1982. Asbestos is an extremely versatile and heat resistant material that has been widely used on military ships. The mineral was an inevitable hazard both for the sailors and the workers who constructed the vessel in the shipyard. Ship hulls, engine areas, boiler rooms, navigation rooms, weapons and ammunition storage rooms, on the other hand, were cramped spaces with poor ventilation that trapped airborne asbestos fibers. While inhaling the highly carcinogenic mineral, people on board never knew about the danger that they were exposed to.
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