Naval Air Station Lakehurst, located in Ocean County in central New Jersey, has operated continuously since 1921 as the home of Navy lighter-than-air aviation. The installation housed blimps and airships throughout World War II and the Cold War, with submarine patrol blimps deployed from Lakehurst described in historical records as carrying “real authority in the campaign to curb the German submarine menace to Allied shipping.” The NAS also housed massive dirigible hangars — described as “600 feet long and 80 feet high” — and a broad shore infrastructure supporting aviation operations across multiple construction eras.

Documented Asbestos Facilities

Insulator trade databases and publicly filed litigation records document Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey facility inventories used in asbestos cases. Of particular significance, these records specifically list “Lakehurst Naval Air Station - Boiler Plant” as a separate entry — indicating that the installation’s central steam plant was a recognized site of asbestos insulation work by Heat & Frost Insulators and other trades.

The boiler plant at a facility the scale of NAS Lakehurst would have used asbestos block insulation, pipe lagging, and valve packing on steam generation and distribution equipment throughout the period when these materials were standard in industrial and Navy shore construction.

Hangar and Support Infrastructure

NAS Lakehurst’s structural steel dirigible hangars were among the largest enclosed spaces in early American military construction. Steel-framed hangars of the era were constructed with asbestos fireproofing on structural members and asbestos-containing roofing systems. Workers who performed maintenance inside these hangars were in environments with documented asbestos-containing building materials.

Support infrastructure at Lakehurst serving the aviation mission included:

  • Steam heating systems in barracks, administrative buildings, and technical facilities insulated with asbestos pipe covering and block insulation
  • Maintenance shops for airship envelope, gas, and mechanical systems where asbestos gaskets and packing were used in equipment maintenance
  • Shore facilities built across the 1920s–1960s construction periods using asbestos-containing floor tile, ceiling materials, and pipe insulation standard in Naval aviation construction

VA Claims for NAS Lakehurst Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers shore-duty asbestos exposure at Navy installations including NAS Lakehurst. Veterans who served at Lakehurst in aviation, maintenance, 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 Lakehurst or Lakehurst, NJ.