Naval Base Kitsap Bangor, located on Hood Canal on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state approximately 20 miles west of Seattle, is the Pacific Fleet’s primary strategic nuclear submarine base — the homeport for Pacific Fleet Ohio class Trident ballistic missile submarines. Bangor was established in the 1970s to serve as the Pacific base for the Trident SSBN program and has served as the primary Pacific Fleet SSBN base since the first Ohio class submarines were commissioned in the 1980s. The base also homeports submarine tenders and submarine support vessels providing maintenance support to the SSBN force.

Submarine Tender Asbestos at Bangor

Submarine tenders providing maintenance support to the SSBN force at Bangor were built with asbestos insulation:

  • USS Michigan AS-20 class tenders — submarine tenders assigned to support Bangor-homeported SSBNs were built with asbestos insulation in their engineering spaces and repair shop facilities consistent with their construction eras. Tender crew members working in the tender’s machine shops, pipe shops, and engineering spaces accumulated asbestos exposure from the tender’s construction
  • Tender maintenance shop environment — the machine shops and pipe shops on submarine tenders at Bangor were below-deck workshop spaces where engineering ratings fabricated parts and performed maintenance on SSBN equipment, with the tender’s workshop environment containing asbestos insulation in older tender construction

Earlier FBM Submarines at Bangor

Before Ohio class submarines began homeporting at Bangor, earlier-generation FBM submarines also used Bangor-area facilities:

  • The submarine facilities at Bangor were used as a West Coast strategic submarine support base during the transition from Polaris/Poseidon submarines to Trident submarines, with engineers from earlier-generation FBM submarines that contained asbestos insulation in their secondary steam systems working in and around the Bangor facility

Shore Facility Infrastructure

Naval Base Kitsap Bangor’s building infrastructure includes construction from the base’s establishment in the 1970s:

  • 1970s-era support buildings — the base’s primary support infrastructure built in the 1970s used construction materials from that transitional period, with some asbestos-containing construction materials in mechanical systems and building components in structures built before the late-1970s phase-down in construction materials

Ohio Class SSBN Post-Phase-Down Construction

The Ohio class Trident submarines (SSBN-726 through SSBN-743) were commissioned beginning in 1981 and built under the nuclear submarine program’s asbestos phase-down specifications. Ohio class submarines were built substantially after the phase-down in asbestos use in nuclear submarine construction and were not built with asbestos insulation in their primary secondary steam system components. Veterans of Ohio class SSBN service who have mesothelioma claims should document any prior service aboard older submarines with asbestos construction.

VA Claims for Bangor Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure from submarine tender service and at naval installations. Veterans who served aboard submarine tenders at Bangor or in older base buildings and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.