Asbestos In Shipyards

Terminal Island Naval Shipyard

The Terminal Island naval Shipyard, also known as the Long Beach Shipyard, was located at the Terminal Island in California between the cities of San Pedro and Long Beach and about twenty five miles south of Los Angeles. The Long Beach Naval Ship Yard was built on 119 acres of ocean side real estate on the sand filled island. The ship yard consisted of over 165 buildings that assisted in the ship building process including nearly 2,400,000 square feet of work shop area. The ship yard held three graving docks, and five industrial piers located on the over 12,000 feet of berthing space.

During World War II, the Terminal Island Naval Ship Yard had a peak employment of a little over 16,000 people and focused the majority of their efforts to routine and emergency repair of the Navy's cargo ships, tankers, troop transports, destroyers and cruisers. The ship yard was equipped to handle all non-nuclear structural, sheet metal, boiler, rigging, electrical, insulating, lagging, and various other repair procedures. The problem with so many workers and so little regulations as far as safety was that all these people were exposed to high levels of asbestos. This exposure led to many different illnesses including Mesothelioma.

The Terminal Island Naval Ship Yard was put on inactive status in June of 1950, but with the elevation of the Korean War it was placed back on active status in January of 1951. The ship yard had complete engineering, design, quality assurance, combat systems, planning and public works capabilities to support its vast industrial work. Dry Dock #1 was named the West Coast nuclear powered aircraft carrier dry dock for all emergency repairs.

During the years of operation, the ship yard developed an outstanding reputation among its fleet customers. Past and current performance evaluations in terms of timely production, quality and economically sound and emphasis on responsiveness contribute to this reputation. Through the years the ship yard had a hand in completing many special projects for the U.S. Navy, including support or scientific projects to assist programs such as POLARIS, POSEIDON, and SEALAB.

Terminal Island Naval Ship Yard closed in 1947 and the entire contents of the base rewarded to the Bureau of Yards and Docks. The ship yard's growth eventually ceased and the demolition of the base's runway's sealed the fait of the once productive and historic Naval base. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended the site for permanent closure in 1995.

In recent years many individual and group action lawsuits have been filed against the U.S. Navy in relation to the base. Many people believe that workers at the Terminal Island Naval Ship Yard were forced to work in unhealthy conditions including working closely with asbestos. This contact to asbestos has caused many workers and inhabitants of the Naval base to die at the same rate as the men in uniform fighting the wars. The illness they were dying from was Mesothelioma and these lawsuits are still pending and the outcome could change the way many people look back on the Terminal Island Naval Shipyard located in California. This yard should be remembered for its pivotal role in the repair and production of Naval vessels during WWII, and not its controversial role in the asbestos and Mesothelioma related death of many of its workers.

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