Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, on Seavey Island in Kittery, Maine, has been Navy-owned and Navy-operated continuously since it was established on June 12, 1800, one of the original six government shipyards in the country. It has never closed. From 1917 to 1969 the yard built new submarines, then shifted entirely to submarine overhaul, repair, and modernization work, which remains its mission today. Asbestos insulation was standard equipment on the diesel-electric and nuclear submarines built and serviced here across that span, and government health researchers later documented exposure among the civilian workforce that installed and removed it.
What work happened at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Portsmouth’s submarine construction era ran from 1917 through 1969. Production peaked during World War II, when the yard’s civilian workforce reportedly reached approximately 25,000 and built more than 70 submarines, a figure that appears consistently across secondary historical summaries though a single primary Navy document could not be independently confirmed from this review. After 1969 the yard built no new submarines. Its entire mission since has been overhaul, repair, refueling, and modernization of nuclear-powered attack submarines, work that today focuses on Los Angeles-class and Virginia-class boats.
One vessel built here stands out in naval engineering history. USS Albacore (AGSS-569) was laid down at Portsmouth in March 1952 and commissioned in December 1953. Its teardrop-shaped hull, tested here as an experimental research submarine, was later adopted across most U.S. Navy submarine designs that followed.
Ships in our roster built at this yard
Our internal roster covers fourteen Navy ship classes, not a shipyard’s full production history. Within those fourteen classes, our data shows 58 submarines built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, all commissioned between 1941 and 1944: 44 Balao-class boats and 14 Gato-class boats. This reflects the yard’s wartime specialization in fleet submarine construction, not its total output across its full 1917-1969 construction era.
| Ship | Hull number | Commissioned | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| USS Drum | SS-228 | 1941 | Gato-class |
| USS Flying Fish | SS-229 | 1941 | Gato-class |
| USS Finback | SS-230 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Haddock | SS-231 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Halibut | SS-232 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Herring | SS-233 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Kingfish | SS-234 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Shad | SS-235 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Runner | SS-275 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Sawfish | SS-276 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Scamp | SS-277 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Scorpion | SS-278 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Snook | SS-279 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Steelhead | SS-280 | 1942 | Gato-class |
| USS Balao | SS-285 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Billfish | SS-286 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Bowfin | SS-287 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Cabrilla | SS-288 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Capelin | SS-289 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Cisco | SS-290 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Crevalle | SS-291 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Apogon | SS-308 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Aspro | SS-309 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Batfish | SS-310 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Archerfish | SS-311 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Burrfish | SS-312 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Sand Lance | SS-381 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Picuda | SS-382 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Pampanito | SS-383 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Parche | SS-384 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Bang | SS-385 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Pilotfish | SS-386 | 1943 | Balao-class |
| USS Lionfish | SS-298 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Manta | SS-299 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Pintado | SS-387 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Pipefish | SS-388 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Piranha | SS-389 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Plaice | SS-390 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Pomfret | SS-391 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Sterlet | SS-392 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Queenfish | SS-393 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Razorback | SS-394 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Redfish | SS-395 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Ronquil | SS-396 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Scabbardfish | SS-397 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Segundo | SS-398 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Sea Cat | SS-399 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Sea Devil | SS-400 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Sea Dog | SS-401 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Sea Fox | SS-402 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Atule | SS-403 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Spikefish | SS-404 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Sea Owl | SS-405 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Sea Poacher | SS-406 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Sea Robin | SS-407 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Sennet | SS-408 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Piper | SS-409 | 1944 | Balao-class |
| USS Threadfin | SS-410 | 1944 | Balao-class |
Documented asbestos use at this yard
Several federal health investigations name Portsmouth Naval Shipyard specifically. In 1985, NIOSH conducted a Health Hazard Evaluation, HETA 85-021-1654, after employees in the insulation shop reported nosebleeds and upper-respiratory irritation. The evaluation, conducted through environmental sampling and a medical questionnaire in April 1985, investigated possible exposure to asbestos, fibrous glass, and magnesium silicates.
A peer-reviewed case-control study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology examined civilian Portsmouth employees who worked between 1952 and 1977. The researchers, Rinsky, Melius, and colleagues, found elevated odds ratios for lung cancer associated with exposure to ionizing radiation, asbestos, and welding byproducts. When the analysis adjusted for asbestos and welding exposure, the radiation-risk estimate dropped substantially, a pattern the authors attributed to confounding between these overlapping occupational exposures.
NIOSH’s broader occupational research program at Portsmouth, built primarily around studies of shipyard nuclear workers, also evaluated asbestos, chromium, nickel, and welding fumes as potential confounding exposures within the same civilian worker population.
Separately, EPA’s own Superfund cleanup narrative for the shipyard names asbestos directly. During remediation work in 1994 and 1995 at Site 32, a filled 17-acre parcel called Topeka Pier that was historically used for lumber milling and coal and scrap storage, crews excavated debris that included asbestos cloth.
Trades and ratings with documented exposure
- Insulation-shop workers. NIOSH’s 1985 Health Hazard Evaluation was launched specifically because insulation-shop employees reported respiratory symptoms, and the evaluation targeted asbestos, fibrous glass, and magnesium-silicate exposure in that shop.
- General production workforce, 1952 to 1977. The Rinsky case-control study found this population’s lung-cancer risk was associated with asbestos exposure alongside radiation and welding fumes.
- Nuclear and radiation workers. NIOSH’s larger occupational cohort at Portsmouth, built around radiation-exposure research, tracked asbestos as a documented confounding exposure within that same nuclear workforce.
Environmental record
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was a federal Superfund site. EPA added the 278-acre property to the National Priorities List in 1994. The agency organized cleanup into seven separate site areas. EPA proposed removing the site from the list on August 16, 2023, and formally delisted it on February 16, 2024, after roughly thirty years of remediation. Operation and maintenance, land-use controls, and periodic five-year reviews continue.
Asbestos is named specifically at only one of the seven site areas: Site 32, Topeka Pier, where asbestos cloth was found in excavated debris. The contamination that drove the original 1994 listing, and that dominates the other six site areas, was PCBs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals, and benzene, not asbestos. The Superfund record on its own does not establish sitewide asbestos contamination beyond that one location. It is a separate matter from the occupational exposure documented in the NIOSH and peer-reviewed studies above, which concern airborne exposure inside shipyard buildings during working shifts, not soil or groundwater contamination.
If you worked at this yard
If you or a family member worked at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, useful documentation includes service records, a DD-214, civilian personnel or employment records, union records, and any pay stubs or ID badges that show a division, shop, or building assignment. Records that show dates, job title, and location within the yard are the most useful for establishing where and when someone worked.
You can review other shipyards in our directory at /veterans/shipyards/, read a general overview of asbestos trust funds at /trusts/, find guidance on VA paperwork at /va-forms-for-mesothelioma/, or request a review of your specific case history at /veteran-case-review/.