Asbestos Uses: The Shipyard Connection

Continued from: About Asbestos > Uses of Asbestos

Many malignant mesothelioma and asbestosis patients had exposed to in shipyards. In the 1940s, the American shipyards started to use asbestos as insulation around piping in ships. World War II brought a massive expansion in shipbuilding, as the American fleet grew from 394 vessels in 1939 to 6,768 vessels in 1945 a 17-fold increase in six years. This increase also brought tremendous increases in exposure to asbestos, with more than four million workers engaged to build and repair this vast fleet.

Asbestos was a very good material for shipbuilding, because it was available in massive quantities at relatively low cost. It could withstand high temperatures and corrosion. It was widely used to insulate the ships heat producing components. Thousands of tons of asbestos were used to wrap and line the boilers, engines, turbines, etc. in the ships carrying men and supplies overseas.

While this upsurge in asbestos use was occurring, the Navy became aware of reports from Europe indicating the dangers of asbestos exposure to the workers. Workers who had inhaled asbestos were dying of asbestosis and mesothelioma (although at the time mesothelioma had not been designated as a separate disease). Standards were passed in the U.S. to protect workers from the asbestos clouds that surrounded the shipyard workforce. The workforce was exposed to these asbestos clouds 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Unfortunately, it was wartime and these standards were not enforced due to urgency of the ship building efforts. It would take 30 years before the dangers were fully disclosed to the workers and the government took the necessary steps to protect them.

[Page updated May 2006]