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Asbestos & The Navy

From the 1930s through the mid-1970s the U.S. Navy utilized asbestos-containing products in its ships and shipyards, principally for the compound's extreme fire resistance. For a time the Navy even mandated the use of asbestos, employing the deadly substance in more than 300 materials for construction and repair aboard warships and overhaul at shipyards.

Asbestos was particularly used in insulation and for any products located in engine rooms, where heat resistance is of utmost importance. But virtually no section of a naval ship built before the 1970s is free of asbestos, as it was used in fire, engine, and boiler rooms, as well as mess halls, sleep quarters, and navigation rooms. In addition, products such as cables, gaskets, valves, adhesives and many others contained asbestos.

As early as 1939 the Navy's Surgeon General was aware that asbestosis was caused by prolonged exposure to asbestos. The general's report covered the health conditions at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and revealed the yard's pipe covers and insulators exposed workers to the caustic asbestos dust.

Despite this knowledge, the Navy continued usage of asbestos for nearly four decades, proving that industrial production received higher regard than human safety.

Naval personnel working in the construction, repair, demolition, and renovation of ships and buildings were exposed to asbestos, many in high quantities for extended periods of time. Sailors stationed aboard these asbestos-laden warships were often showered in asbestos dust. Many recall sleeping in bunks below asbestos-covered pipes and having to shake the dusty material of their bunks daily. Due to its jagged atomic structure, asbestos is very brittle and breaks into particles readily. The tiny particles are effortlessly inhaled adhere to the internal lining of the lungs, abdomen, and heart.

Close quarters aboard ships and shipyards inevitably led to many asbestos materials being struck during normal operations, which led to the inhalation of the fragile substance and attachment to clothing. Personnel routinely carried asbestos dust home on their clothes, exposing family and friends to the toxic compound.

Since the mid-70s, remarkably fewer amounts of asbestos-containing products are used on new ships. But in the early 1990s, the Navy began selling dozens of obsolete ships for scrap materials. Unfortunately, the dismantling of these toxic ships often takes place in depressed ports, where workers are not trained to handle asbestos and no protective measures are taken.

Surprisingly, some naval ships still contain asbestos, as the material may be imbedded in brakes, clutches, gaskets, and older construction materials. Regrettably, it seems that until firm and enforced regulations are implemented on the usage of this deadly substance, asbestos will persist to infect and damage yet another generation of innocent victims.

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