Naval Shipyard Charleston — Asbestos at the Southeast Coast Ship Repair Facility

By Rights Watch Media Group LLC •June 22, 2026 • 2 min read

Firsthand Accounts from the Trades

Did you work at Naval Shipyard Charleston? Add your account.

Records show what a yard was. They don’t show what the work was like. If you worked there — insulation, pipe, boilers, sheet metal, electrical, rigging, shipfitting — tell us what you remember: which shops and drydocks, which ships you worked, what came out during a rip-out. Every account helps another yard worker or a family understand where exposure happened, and where to look next.

About these accounts: they are personal recollections shared by workers and their families — individual memory, not records, and not independently verified. The yard history and documented exposure record on this page come from public, Navy and regulatory sources. These accounts sit alongside that record — they add to it, they don't change it.

Who an asbestos claim is actually against. These claims are brought against the companies that manufactured and sold the asbestos-containing products used at industrial sites like this one — the insulation, block, cement, gaskets and packing. A claim of that kind is not aimed at the Navy, at the yard, at the people you worked alongside, or at your local. And adding your recollection here is not filing anything: it is a record of what was on site and how the work was done. We are an independent publisher, not a law firm.

Years you worked there Your trade

Who you worked for (a contractor, or the yard itself) Local # (optional)

Your account

Not sure what's useful? A few things that help ›

Answer whatever comes to mind and skip the rest. Nothing here needs looking up, and a half-remembered name is worth more than a blank.

Any names you remember. On the bags and boxes the material came in, or stamped on a boiler, pump or valve. Even half a name helps — it's the hardest thing to recover this far on.
Who you worked for, and who else was out there. Most men were hired by a contractor rather than the plant, and the insulation crew was usually a different outfit again. If they were working over your head, that counts too.
When, as close as you can get. "Summer of '73" tells us more than "the seventies."
Outages and tear-outs. Shutdown work is when the old lagging came off in quantity — hot, dusty, and usually the worst of it.
Men you worked alongside. First names, or even nicknames. Someone who was there with you is worth a lot.
Whether the hall sent you. If you were dispatched out of a local, there may still be a record of which jobs and when.

Other sites you worked (optional — other yards, ships you worked, plants or powerhouses; we may not have pages for them yet)

Credit as (first name or initials recommended — this appears publicly) Email (only if we may follow up — never shown)

Reviewed by our team before it appears — for accuracy and your privacy. Published as a clearly-marked worker account, kept separate from the site's documented record. We never publish your email. Any other sites you name go on our list to research — if we can document one from records, it becomes a page. We're an independent publisher, not a law firm, and this is not legal advice.

Naval Shipyard Charleston, located on the Cooper River in North Charleston, South Carolina, operated as one of the US Navy’s major ship repair and overhaul facilities on the Southeast Atlantic Coast from the Civil War era through the shipyard’s closure in 1996. The Charleston yard conducted overhaul and repair on a wide range of Navy surface ships and submarines, with the shipyard’s proximity to the Atlantic Fleet submarine operating areas making submarine overhaul a significant part of the yard’s workload. The ship repair work at Charleston Naval Shipyard involved extensive asbestos insulation removal and reinstallation in the engineering plants of ships undergoing overhaul.

Ship Repair Asbestos Exposure

Naval Shipyard Charleston conducted ship repair and overhaul work involving asbestos-containing materials:

Steam system pipe covering removal and reinstallation — Pipe Insulator (PI) trades and Navy ratings at Charleston Naval Shipyard removed and reinstalled asbestos pipe covering on steam system piping during ship overhaul work. The pipe covering removal — stripping deteriorated asbestos magnesia block from steam lines throughout the ship’s engineering spaces — generated the highest asbestos fiber concentrations of the shipyard’s work activities
Boiler lagging removal — boiler overhaul work at Charleston required removal of the existing asbestos boiler lagging from the boiler exterior before boiler maintenance and reinstallation of new lagging material. The lagging removal generated high concentrations of asbestos fiber in the confined boiler room during the stripping operation
Gasket removal during machinery overhaul — the overhaul of steam-driven pumps, valves, and auxiliary machinery involved removing asbestos-containing gaskets at each bolted joint in the machinery being overhauled, with MM and Boilermaker trades performing the gasket removal during the machinery disassembly

Submarine Overhaul Work

Charleston Naval Shipyard conducted significant submarine overhaul work:

Submarine nuclear plant overhaul — Charleston conducted nuclear refueling and overhaul (ROH) work on submarine nuclear plants, with the overhaul work including pipe covering removal and reinstallation on reactor plant piping systems in the submarine engineering spaces

VA Claims for Charleston Shipyard Veterans

VA evaluates asbestos-related disability claims on a case-by-case basis. Veterans generally need evidence of in-service asbestos exposure, a current asbestos-related diagnosis, and a medical link between them. Military and civilian workers who performed insulation, mechanical, and pipe work at Naval Shipyard Charleston and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.

Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical or legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this site. References to ships, shipyards, companies, products, and asbestos-containing materials are drawn from public VA records, NARA archives, EPA/OSHA databases, and public litigation records. All references reflect what has been documented or alleged in publicly filed records. Consult a licensed physician for medical guidance and a qualified attorney for legal advice regarding your specific situation.

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VA disability benefits are a separate government process. To file a VA disability claim for asbestos exposure, visit VA.gov › Hazardous Materials Exposure, call 1‑800‑827‑1000, or contact a Veterans Service Organization (DAV, VFW, American Legion) for free claim assistance.

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