USS Sable (IX-81)

History of the USS Sable Aircraft Carrier

The USS Sable (IX-81) was originally a paddlewheel coal-burning steamer called the Greater Buffalo. Her keel was laid down at the American Ship Building Company in Lorain, Ohio in 1924. She was acquired by the U.S. Navy from the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company on August 7, 1942 and converted at the American Shipbuilding Company in Buffalo, New York. The carrier was commissioned on May 8, 1943 under the command of Captain William A. Schoech.

USS Sable was one of two freshwater aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy, along with her sister ship USS Wolverine. She was used as a training vessel for carrier qualifications during World War II. The carrier was assigned to the Ninth Naval District in the Great Lakes, Illinois on June 1, 1943.

Along with her sister ship, the USS Sable qualified nearly 18,000 pilots in 116,000 landings. Lieutenant Junior Grade and future President George H.W. Bush qualified on the carrier when he was 20 years old.

The USS Sable was decommissioned on November 7, 1945. She was removed from the Naval Vessel Register on November 28, 1945 and sold for scrap on July 7, 1948.

The use of asbestos was common in shipbuilding components for much of the 20th Century because of its resistance to heat, fire, water and corrosion. Because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, seaman, shipyard workers and longshoreman are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma .

Sources include:

John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed, "Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences," Ulster Med. J. 77(3):191-200 (Sep 2008) A Look Back: Forty Years of Reminiscing Naval Historical Center, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships—USS Sable