Consolidated Steel Shipyards
In 1929, Llewellyn Iron Works, Baker Iron Works and Union Iron Works joined together to create Consolidated Steel Corporation. Initially the operation was located at a leased shipyard in Long Beach, California, which was the former Craig Shipbuilding site. In 1941 the newly formed company built a shipyard in Wilmington, California, with a $13-million-dollar contract from the U.S. Maritime Commission. This shipyard originally had four waterways, but as the war movement intensified, four more waterways were added. The Wilmington shipyard employed 12,000 welders, pipe fitters and steel workers from 1941 until 1945 when it was closed.
Consolidated Steel Shipyards in Wilmington used asbestos-containing insulation and fire retardant as part of all its construction. Occupational exposure to asbestos dust was a problem for workers when asbestos pipes and blankets were custom cut to fit various uses. Many of these exposed workers experienced mild symptoms as a result of this exposure, but the symptoms were ignored and asbestos-containing products continued to be employed. Unfortunately, ongoing exposure to asbestos can cause terminal diseases like mesothelioma cancer, lung cancer and asbestosis.
Consolidated Steel Corporation in Texas
In 1941, Consolidated Steel operated a small fabrication yard in Orange, Texas, which became a thriving facility after the company was awarded a Navy contract to build destroyers.
Between 1942 and 1945, the Orange facility built 12 Fletcher-class destroyers, 102 destroyer escorts and 27 Gearing-class destroyers. It employed 20,000 people, the majority of whom were women from Beaumont, Texas. The company brought these workers in by railroad so that it could meet the production quotas of the Navy contract.
The Orange shipyard used asbestos-containing products as abundantly in the vessels it built as all other wartime shipyards. Asbestos insulation covered pipes and was used in floors and on walls. The packing inside boilers was manufactured with asbestos, and the blankets used on bulkheads to stop the spread of fire during attacks also contained it. This meant that shipyard workers faced occupational exposure on a daily basis.
A large amount of the asbestos dust that was prevalent at the Orange shipyard came from products manufactured and supplied by Johns-Manville. In 1944, workers from the Asbestos and Magnesia Materials Company, a subcontractor at the Orange shipyard, installed Johns-Manville manufactured asbestos insulation in the Consolidated Steel Shipyard in Orange.
Years later when employees of the Orange shipyard developed asbestos-related diseases and filed lawsuits, Johns-Manville maintained it couldn't be held liable for the medical conditions caused by its products because the Company was unaware that asbestos caused disease. In fact, Johns-Manville claimed that scientific knowledge and the methods of research that were current at the time were not sophisticated enough to discover the harmfulness of asbestos exposure.
After the war, the Orange yard tried to continue operating as a shipbuilder by constructing vessels for foreign governments. Despite its effort, the company was forced to go back to fabrication and it eventually became a part of U.S. Steel.
If you think you were exposed to asbestos at one of the Consolidated Steel shipyards you can learn more about the signs of asbestos-related disease to help catch any illness early in its development. To learn more about the signs and symptoms to look out for, you can request a free informational packet by filling out the form on this page. Patients diagnosed with mesothelioma should especially request the free packet to learn about treatment options and the nation's best medical specialists.
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Last Modified Thursday, February 9th, 2012 | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy |
The information provided by The Mesothelioma Center is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
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