Avondale Shipyard operated in Westwego, Louisiana, from 1938 until shipbuilding ended there in the early 2010s. For more than a decade of that span, from 1962 to 1974, the yard built Navy combatant ships, including Charles F. Adams-class guided-missile destroyers and Knox-class frigates. Ships built during that era relied on asbestos insulation and asbestos-containing gaskets throughout their engine rooms, boiler rooms, and piping systems, materials that were standard on Navy vessels of the time and that put shipyard workers in direct contact with asbestos fibers.
What work happened at Avondale Shipyard
Avondale’s core identity was new construction, not repair or overhaul. Founded in 1938 as Avondale Marine Ways, the yard first built barges and tugboats for the Mississippi River trade, work that grew over its history to more than 1,000 LASH barges, according to the Naval Marine Archive’s shipyard record. That commercial barge and tug business ran alongside the Navy shipbuilding contracts described below.
The yard changed ownership and names several times over its history: founded independently in 1938, sold to the Ogden Corporation in 1959, renamed Avondale Shipyards Inc. in 1960, transferred to employee ownership in 1985, taken public as Avondale Industries in 1987, acquired by Litton Industries in 1999, folded into Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in 2001, and spun off into Huntington Ingalls Industries in 2011. Shipbuilding at the yard ended after the amphibious transport dock USS Somerset (LPD-25) departed on February 3, 2014, reported as the last Navy ship to leave Avondale, according to Wikipedia’s history of the yard, cross-checked against shipbuildinghistory.com’s shipyard record (sources differ on whether formal closure is dated to 2013 or 2014, but agree on the February 2014 departure of the last ship). If you are trying to match your own employment records to this yard, the company name on your paperwork may reflect any of these names depending on when you worked there.
During the 1962-to-1974 era covered by our ship roster, Avondale built two Charles F. Adams-class guided-missile destroyers and 27 Knox-class frigates, all new-build combatant ships rather than repair work on existing vessels. New construction meant pipefitters, insulators, and outfitting crews worked inside unfinished hulls for months at a time, installing the insulation, gaskets, and fireproofing that lined engine rooms, boiler rooms, and berthing spaces before a ship was ever commissioned. That kind of sustained, enclosed work differs from a repair yard, where a crew might handle a given ship for a matter of weeks. At its peak, Avondale employed approximately 26,000 people, according to reporting by NOLA.com, though no source available to us ties that figure to a specific year.
Ships in our roster built at this yard
Our roster of fourteen Navy ship classes includes 29 ships built at Avondale Shipyard: two Charles F. Adams-class guided-missile destroyers and 27 Knox-class frigates, commissioned between 1962 and 1974. This is not a full inventory of every ship Avondale built. It reflects only the ship classes tracked in our roster, and Avondale’s actual output, particularly its commercial barge and tug work, was far larger than this table shows.
Avondale was one of only six shipyards nationally to build Charles F. Adams-class destroyers, alongside Bath Iron Works, New York Shipbuilding, Defoe Shipbuilding, Todd Pacific Shipyards, and Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging, according to the Charles F. Adams-class destroyer ship class record.
| Ship name | Hull number | Commissioned | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| USS Semmes | DDG-18 | 1962 | Charles F. Adams-class Destroyer |
| USS Tattnall | DDG-19 | 1963 | Charles F. Adams-class Destroyer |
| USS Connole | FF-1056 | 1969 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS W. S. Sims | FF-1059 | 1970 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Patterson | FF-1061 | 1970 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Vreeland | FF-1068 | 1970 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Blakely | FF-1072 | 1970 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Trippe | FF-1075 | 1970 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Ouellet | FF-1077 | 1970 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Joseph Hewes | FF-1078 | 1971 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Bowen | FF-1079 | 1971 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Paul | FF-1080 | 1971 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Aylwin | FF-1081 | 1971 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Elmer Montgomery | FF-1082 | 1971 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Cook | FF-1083 | 1971 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS McCandless | FF-1084 | 1972 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Donald B. Beary | FF-1085 | 1972 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Brewton | FF-1086 | 1972 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Kirk | FF-1087 | 1972 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Barbey | FF-1088 | 1972 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Jesse L. Brown | FF-1089 | 1973 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Ainsworth | FF-1090 | 1973 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Miller | FF-1091 | 1973 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Thomas C. Hart | FF-1092 | 1973 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Capodanno | FF-1093 | 1973 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Pharris | FF-1094 | 1974 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Truett | FF-1095 | 1974 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Valdez | FF-1096 | 1974 | Knox-class Frigate |
| USS Moinester | FF-1097 | 1974 | Knox-class Frigate |
Documented asbestos use at this yard
Court records document asbestos exposure among Avondale shipyard workers. A Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal decision, Chaisson v. Avondale Industries Inc., decided December 20, 2006, is a public appellate opinion describing pipefitting work at Avondale that involved bolting pipe joints with asbestos-containing gaskets and removing asbestos insulation from engine rooms, boiler rooms, and living quarters aboard ships under construction. The opinion identifies Garlock-brand gaskets specifically as an asbestos-containing product used in that pipefitting work, with Garlock, Inc. named as a party in the case.
Separately, the shipyard property itself has a documented asbestos history apart from any shipbuilding-era work. After Avondale closed and the 254-acre site was sold in 2018 for redevelopment as a logistics and manufacturing hub now called Avondale Global Gateway, the new owner carried out a multi-year asbestos remediation that began in 2019. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality issued a “No Further Action” determination in August 2022, and the owner reported the full property certified asbestos-free in November 2025, according to Biz New Orleans.
Trades and ratings with documented exposure
The court record described above documents asbestos exposure specifically among pipefitting trades at Avondale:
- Pipefitter
- Pipefitter’s helper
- Foreman of pipefitters
These roles are documented in the case record as directly handling asbestos-containing gaskets and insulation, including bolting pipe joints and removing old insulation in engine rooms, boiler rooms, and living quarters aboard ships under construction. This is the yard-specific documentation available to us. If you served in a different trade or rating at Avondale and worked around ship construction, the resources below can still help you look further into your own service and employment history.
Environmental record
Avondale Shipyard does not appear on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund National Priorities List for Louisiana, based on the current list of Louisiana Superfund sites. The shipyard’s asbestos history was not addressed through a federal Superfund cleanup.
Instead, the asbestos legacy at the property was addressed as a state matter tied to private redevelopment after shipbuilding ended. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality oversaw the remediation described above, beginning in 2019 and clearing with a “No Further Action” letter in August 2022, with the owner reporting the full 254-acre property certified asbestos-free in November 2025, according to Biz New Orleans. No public health assessment specific to Avondale from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry was located for this page.
If you worked at this yard
If you or a family member worked at Avondale Shipyard, especially during its years of Navy shipbuilding from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s, documentation of where and when that work happened can matter later. Records that can help establish this include:
- DD-214 or other service records, if the work was performed while on active duty or under Navy oversight of the shipyard
- Employment records from Avondale Marine Ways, Avondale Shipyards, Avondale Industries, Litton Ship Systems, or Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, depending on the years worked
- Union records, if the trade was represented by a pipefitters’, boilermakers’, or other trade union local
- Pension, retirement, or Social Security earnings records that show employer name and dates
You do not need to gather all of this at once, and you do not need every document to start. The shipyards overview explains how shipyard work fits into a broader asbestos exposure history. The trust overview explains how asbestos trusts work in general. If paperwork through the VA is part of your situation, VA forms for mesothelioma walks through what those forms are for. And if you want help thinking through your own work history, veteran case review is a place to start that conversation.