Shipyard Asbestos Exposure: Civilian and Military Workers

From the early 1940s through approximately 1980, US shipyards were among the most asbestos-saturated workplaces in the country. Construction, repair, and refit of warships, merchant vessels, and submarines all required asbestos insulation, asbestos-cement panels, asbestos gaskets, and asbestos-laden coatings. Workers and visitors alike were exposed.

This page covers where shipyard exposure happened, which trades carried the highest risk, the major US shipyards with documented exposure, and how to file a claim if you or a family member worked in or visited one.

How shipyard exposure happened

The work that made shipyards productive was the same work that released asbestos fibers into the air. Specifically:

• Cutting and shaping asbestos insulation. Insulators cut asbestos block, sheet, and rope to wrap pipes, valves, boilers, and turbines. Cutting released visible dust.
• Pipefitting. Pipefitters removed old asbestos lagging during repair and replaced it with new asbestos lagging during installation. Both released fibers.
• Welding and burning. Welders worked next to asbestos-insulated piping. Heat and sparks broke down the insulation and released fibers.
• Boilermaking. Boilers were wrapped in asbestos. Boilermakers cut, fitted, and repaired both the steel pressure vessels and the asbestos blanket around them.
• Electrical work. Electrical cabling was insulated with asbestos cloth. Electricians cut and stripped this cloth routinely.
• Painting and surface preparation. Some marine paints and coatings contained asbestos. Sandblasting before painting released the fibers.
• Demolition and shipbreaking. Removing old equipment from ships in for refit released decades of accumulated asbestos dust into the work spaces.

The exposure was not limited to the workers doing this work. Anyone in the same space, including supervisors, inspectors, deliverymen, and Navy personnel visiting the yard, breathed the same air.

Trades with the highest documented exposure

• Insulators (sometimes called laggers)
• Pipefitters and steamfitters
• Boilermakers
• Welders and burners
• Electricians (especially shipboard)
• Sheet metal workers
• Machinists
• Riggers
• Joiners and shipwrights
• Demolition and shipbreaking crews
• Painters (especially sandblasters)

Major US shipyards with documented asbestos exposure

Naval shipyards

• Brooklyn Navy Yard, NY (closed 1966 as a Navy yard, now a private industrial site)
• Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA (closed 1996)
• Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, CA (closed 1994; environmental remediation ongoing)
• Long Beach Naval Shipyard, CA (closed 1997)
• Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, HI (still active)
• Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, VA (still active)
• Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, PA (closed 1995)
• Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME (still active)
• Charleston Naval Shipyard, SC (closed 1996)
• Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA (still active)
• Boston Naval Shipyard, MA (closed 1974)
• San Francisco Naval Shipyard, CA (consolidated into Hunters Point)
• Washington Navy Yard, DC (still active for ceremonial and historical functions)

Private US shipyards with documented Navy contracts

• Newport News Shipbuilding, VA
• General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, CT
• Bath Iron Works, ME
• Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, MS
• National Steel and Shipbuilding (NASSCO), San Diego, CA
• Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock, Chester, PA
• New York Shipbuilding, Camden, NJ
• Bethlehem Steel shipyards (multiple locations)
• Todd Shipyards (multiple locations)
• Avondale Shipyards, LA

This is not an exhaustive list. If you worked in a shipyard not listed here, asbestos exposure may still be documentable through workplace records, union records, and individual product records.

Confirming exposure for a claim

If you worked at a major US shipyard during the asbestos era, exposure is generally easy to confirm. The shipyards’ asbestos use is well-documented in industrial hygiene records, union grievances, and litigation history. Your employment records, union records, and Social Security earnings statements (which list your employers) are usually enough.

If you served in the Navy and your duty took you into shipyards for refit or overhaul, see Navy Veteran Asbestos Exposure. If you are filing a VA claim, see VA Benefits for Mesothelioma.

Trust funds for shipyard workers

Shipyard workers are often eligible for multiple asbestos trust fund claims because their exposure typically came from multiple manufacturers’ products. Insulation, gaskets, packing, brake linings, and joint compounds were each made by different companies, many of which now have separate bankruptcy trusts.

Common trusts that compensate shipyard exposure include the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, the Owens Corning / Fibreboard Asbestos Personal Injury Trust, the Babcock and Wilcox Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust, and others.

To find out which trusts may apply to your specific shipyard work history, call (800) 763-9692 or read our FAQ.

If a family member was exposed at home

Shipyard asbestos came home on workers’ clothes. Spouses who washed asbestos-laden work clothes and children who hugged returning fathers were exposed indirectly. This is called secondary or take-home exposure. The VA does not cover secondary exposure, but trust funds and civil claims often do.

If a non-veteran family member developed mesothelioma after a household member worked in a shipyard, that family member may have an independent claim against the shipyard’s product manufacturers and, in some cases, against the shipyard itself.

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This page was reviewed by the editorial team at Mesothelioma Funds Administration. For our editorial standards, see Editorial Policy. Last reviewed: 2026-05-07.