Where Asbestos Was Rampant: Navy Vessels And Shipyards

Wallace & Graham, P.A. has broad knowledge of the U.S. Naval Fleet as it pertains to asbestos litigation. The ability to quickly trace where exposure occurred and identify the corporate entities that might be liable is critical to recovering full and timely compensation.

Based in Salisbury, North Carolina, we represent Navy retirees throughout the United States in disability claims to get medical coverage for aggressive treatment of mesothelioma or asbestos disease. Our lawyers also represent family members in mesothelioma wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of Navy veterans to recover compensatory damages and hold those companies accountable for their indifference to safety.

The Asbestos Era — What Ships or Shipyards Put You at Risk?

From the 1940s to the 1970s, asbestos was widely and heavily used in shipbuilding. Many of our past and current clients served in the Navy at the following duty stations:

Brooklyn Navy Yard (New York Naval Shipyard) — Known for battleships and other warships
Norfolk Naval Shipyard (Portsmouth, Virginia) — The Navy’s chief overhaul and repair facility
Mare Island Naval Shipyard (Solano County, California) — The fleet’s primary submarine factory
The Kaiser Shipyards (California, Oregon and Washington) — Known for escort aircraft carriers and Liberty and Victory (cargo) ships

Many of the ships toward the latter end of the asbestos era are still in service, but the majority have long since been decommissioned and sold or scrapped.

Nonetheless, substantive records exist of where those ships were built, which contractors contributed to their construction, and which asbestos-containing products were used in the process.

Every member of the Navy has a Form DD-214 listing a wealth of information about the individual: enlistment, duty stations, ports of call, rank, pay and assignments aboard ship. Our attorneys use this information to pinpoint the boilers and turbines or the asbestos-lined pumps, valves, pipes and gaskets with which our clients had significant contact.

We have represented seamen of every type of Navy craft, including World War II veterans, Korean War vets, Vietnam vets and those exposed during peacetime/Cold War deployment:

Aircraft carriers and carrier group support ships
Battleships, destroyers and cruisers
All classes of submarines
Tender ships and supply ships
Merchant Navy ships (Victory and Liberty)
Civilian cargo vessels (Merchant Marines) enlisted into Navy service during wartime, thus qualifying crew for veteran status

Help Us Help You.

The thousands of boats in service during the asbestos era are too lengthy to list here. If your loved one has a potential mesothelioma claim, we provide these links as a starting resource.

Naval Vessel Register
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

Any information you can dig up that might be relevant — contact information for former shipmates; photos, postcards or letters describing where the sailor was and what they did aboard ship — will help speed approval for VA benefits or strengthen the case for a civil lawsuit.

Call Wallace & Graham, P.A. at 888-698-9975 or contact us online for a free mesothelioma-related consultation.