Naval Air Station Barbers Point, located on the southwestern shore of Oahu in Hawaii, was commissioned in 1942 and operated continuously as a Navy aviation installation through its BRAC closure in 1999. The installation hosted Navy patrol aviation units — primarily P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft squadrons — and served as a fleet support base for Pacific Fleet operations. Construction of the installation’s extensive shore facilities during World War II and subsequent Cold War expansion used materials including asbestos insulation standard in Navy tropical construction.

Shore Facility Asbestos Sources

NAS Barbers Point’s shore infrastructure was developed in the wartime mobilization period and expanded through the 1950s and 1960s. Like other Pacific-area Navy installations, the base’s tropical climate and high-humidity environment made steam and heating systems critical for equipment protection and personnel comfort in industrial facilities.

  • Hangars and aviation maintenance buildings constructed in the World War II and early Cold War periods used asbestos fireproofing on structural steel and asbestos-containing roofing
  • Boiler plants and steam heating infrastructure serving base facilities and industrial areas were insulated with asbestos block insulation and pipe lagging appropriate for the installation’s scope
  • Barracks, administrative buildings, and technical facilities built in the postwar period incorporated asbestos floor tile, ceiling materials, and pipe insulation standard in Navy Pacific construction
  • Aircraft maintenance shops where Aviation Machinist’s Mates and Structural Mechanics maintained P-3 and predecessor aircraft used asbestos-insulated equipment and operated in asbestos-containing buildings

P-3 Orion Operations

Patrol Wing Two and associated P-3 Orion maritime patrol squadrons based at Barbers Point conducted sustained Cold War anti-submarine patrols across the Central Pacific. Aviation maintenance personnel who maintained these aircraft operated in hangar and maintenance environments with documented asbestos-containing building materials.

VA Claims for NAS Barbers Point Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at overseas and Pacific installations. Veterans who served at Naval Air Station Barbers Point in aviation maintenance, engineering, or shore duty billets during the asbestos era and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer should document their assignment through DD-214 records listing Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Barbers Point HI, or associated patrol aviation squadrons.