The Brooklyn Navy Yard — officially the New York Naval Shipyard — was one of the United States Navy’s most historic and productive shipbuilding facilities, located on Wallabout Bay in Brooklyn, New York. The Brooklyn Navy Yard built some of the Navy’s most powerful warships, including battleships, aircraft carriers, and cruisers, from the nineteenth century through its closure in 1966. The shipyard’s construction and overhaul operations involved asbestos insulation throughout the steam, propulsion, and engineering systems of every vessel built at the facility — applied in the confined engineering spaces and hulls of the largest warships in the fleet. Brooklyn Navy Yard workers — including pipefitters, insulation workers, boilermakers, welders, riggers, and thousands of trades workers — were exposed to asbestos from the insulation materials used throughout each vessel’s construction. Publicly filed asbestos litigation records document the Brooklyn Navy Yard in multiple asbestos contexts: specific vessel identification (USS Wasp CV-18) at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, testimony establishing asbestos exposure at the Brooklyn Navy Yards, and documentation of asbestos product distribution to the facility.

Documented Asbestos — Brooklyn Navy Yard in Litigation

USS Wasp (CV-18) — Brooklyn Navy Yard

Asbestos Exposure at the Brooklyn Navy Yards

Western Asbestos — Brooklyn Navy Yard Supply Inquiry

Asbestos Context at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Asbestos at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Battleship and carrier construction: The Brooklyn Navy Yard built battleships and aircraft carriers — the Navy’s most powerful and most asbestos-intensive vessels. The carrier and battleship engineering spaces required the largest quantities of asbestos pipe covering, block insulation, and fitting covers of any ship class.

World War II peak operations: The Brooklyn Navy Yard reached peak employment during World War II, with over 70,000 workers at the facility’s height of production. This wartime workforce was exposed to asbestos throughout the shipyard’s construction operations, with no respiratory protection and no formal asbestos safety programs.

Post-war overhaul operations: After World War II, the Brooklyn Navy Yard continued as an active overhaul facility — performing the strip-down and re-insulation of vessels that required removal of old asbestos and installation of new asbestos insulation in drydocked hulls.

Historic vessel construction: The Brooklyn Navy Yard’s long history meant that workers at the facility encountered asbestos-containing materials across multiple eras of ship construction — from early asbestos cloth and paper products through the compressed asbestos pipe covering of the mid-century peak exposure period.

VA Claims and Legal Options — Brooklyn Navy Yard Workers

Navy veterans whose ships were built or overhauled at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, civilian workers employed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in any construction or maintenance trade, and workers for asbestos distributors who supplied the Brooklyn Navy Yard, who subsequently developed mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, asbestosis, or pleural disease, may qualify for:

  • VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) for veterans with documented duty aboard vessels built or overhauled at the Brooklyn Navy Yard
  • Civil claims against asbestos product manufacturers and distributors based on documented asbestos product distribution and use at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Key documents:

  • DD-214 or service records — documenting service aboard vessels built or overhauled at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (New York Naval Shipyard)
  • Employment records — Brooklyn Navy Yard employment in any construction or maintenance trade
  • Diagnosis — mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, asbestosis, or pleural disease

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Exposure documentation derived from publicly filed asbestos litigation records including testimony specifically identifying the USS Wasp (CV-18) at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, testimony establishing direct asbestos exposure at the Brooklyn Navy Yards, inquiry documentation about Western Asbestos Company product supply to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and historical documentation of asbestos conditions at the old Brooklyn Navy Yard. This does not constitute legal or medical advice.