Throughout history, the aircraft carrier has been an essential part of the United States Navy military operations. During World War II, these traveling airbases were the homes to thousands of Navy personnel. Along with personnel, each aircraft carrier contained thousands of pounds of deadly asbestos. This asbestos was supplied by companies that knew the asbestos was dangerous and knew that, eventually, thousands of servicemen would contract terrible diseases from exposure to this mineral. But the companies chose profit over safety and hid those dangers from the navy and the servicemen.
Asbestos was used frequently for the insulation of pipes, boilers, electrical fixtures and hull construction. It was also used as a fire retardant material in many areas aboard ship, including non-skid flooring on decks and on bulk head walls. The worst areas on aircraft carriers were in the fire, pump, and engine rooms where insulation covered the pipes and wiring. Some of the personnel most at risk include boiler tenders, electrician's mates, enginemen, machinist mates, pipefitters, and shipfitters.
Many of the companies that supplied asbestos products to the navy have admitted fault and set up trust funds to compensate navy veterans. If you know someone who has mesothelioma, contact us to learn more about your rights.
Below offers a list of some aircraft carriers that were commissioned between 1940 and 1990 and contained risks of asbestos exposure. Personnel aboard any of these ships or civilians that provided shipyard maintenance, repair or deconstruction may have been at risk of asbestos exposure.
United States Navy Aircraft Carrier Listing
- USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)
- USS Admiralty Islands (CVE-99)
- USS America (CV-66)
- USS Antietam (CV 36)
- USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116)
- USS Bairoko (CVE-115)
- USS Baatan (CVL-29)
- USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24)
- USS Bennington (CV-20)
- USS Block Island (CVE-21)
- USS Block Island (CVE-106)
- USS Bogue (CVE-9)
- USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31)
- USS Boxer (CV-21)
- USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)
- USS Cabot (CVL-28)
- USS Card (CVE-11)
- USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
- USS Constellation (CV-64)
- USS Coral Sea (CV/CVB/CVA-43)
- USS Corregidor (CVE-58)
- USS Cowpens (CVL-25)
- USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69)
- USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
- USS Enterprise (CV-6)
- USS Essex (CV-9)
- USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70)
- USS Forrestal (CV-59)
- USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42)
- USS Franklin (CV-13)
- USS Hancock (CV-19)
- USS Hornet (CV-8)
- USS Hornet (CV-12)
- USS Independence (CVL-22)
- USS Independence (CVL-62)
- USS Intrepid (CV-11)
- USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)
- USS Juneau (CL-119)
- USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68)
- USS Kearsarge (CV-33)
- USS Kitty Hawk (AKV-1)
- USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)
- USS Kwajalein (CVE-98)
- USS Lake Champlain (CV/CVA/CVS-39)
- USS Langley (CV-27)
- USS Langley (CV-1/AV-3)
- USS Lexington (CV/CVA/CVS/CVT/AVT-16)
- USS Lexington (CV-2)
- USS Leyte (CV-32)
- USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56)
- USS Makin Island (CVE-93)
- USS Marcus Island (CVE-77)
- USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41)
- USS Monterey (CVL-26)
- USS Nassau (CVE-16)
- USS Nimitz (CVN-68)
- USS Oriskany (CV-34)
- USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80)
- USS Philippine Sea (CV/CVA/CVS-47, AVT-11)
- USS Princeton (CVL-23)
- USS Princeton (CV-37)
- USS Puget Sound (CVE-113)
- USS Randolph (CV-15)
- USS Ranger (CV-4)
- USS Ranger (CVA-61)
- USS Sable (IX-81)
- USS Saipan (CVL-48)
- USS San Jacinto (CVL-30)
- USS Saratoga (CV-3)
- USS Saratoga (CV/CVA/CVB-60)
- USS Shangri La (CV-38)
- USS Sicily (CVE-118)
- USS Steamer Bay (CVE-87)
- USS Tarawa (CV-40)
- USS Ticonderoga (CV/CVA/CVS-14)
- USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)
- USS Valley Forge (CV-45)
- USS Wasp (CV-7)
- USS Wasp (CV-18)
- USS Wright (CVL-49)
- USS Yorktown (CV-10)
