Naval Station Mayport, located at the mouth of the St. Johns River near Jacksonville, Florida, is one of the Atlantic Fleet’s three major surface ship homeports along with Norfolk and Charleston, and the Navy’s third largest naval station. Mayport has served as the homeport for Atlantic Fleet destroyer and frigate squadrons, a carrier and carrier air wing (USS Forrestal’s homeport for much of the 1980s), and Atlantic Fleet auxiliary ships. The station was established during World War II and serves as a year-round warm-water homeport for Atlantic Fleet surface combatants.

Surface Ship Asbestos Exposure

Mayport-based surface ships homeported at the station during the WWII through early-1980s period were built with full asbestos insulation in their engineering spaces:

  • Gearing and Sumner class destroyers homeported at Mayport during the 1950s-1970s carried extensive asbestos insulation in their steam plant engineering spaces — fire rooms with asbestos-insulated boilers and steam piping, and engine rooms with asbestos-insulated turbines and steam turbine casings
  • Knox class and Garcia/Brooke class frigates homeported at Mayport during the 1970s-1980s carried asbestos insulation in their engineering spaces during the period when these vessels were assigned to Destroyer Squadron Atlantic commands based at Mayport
  • USS Forrestal (CV-59) — the Forrestal class carrier was homeported at Mayport from 1977 until its decommissioning in 1993; Forrestal-era crew members assigned during the 1977-1980s period served aboard a vessel with full asbestos insulation in its engineering spaces from its 1950s-era construction

Base Infrastructure and Buildings

Naval Station Mayport’s building infrastructure includes WWII-era construction:

  • World War II barracks and support buildings built in the 1942-1945 period used asbestos-containing construction materials throughout — asbestos floor tile, asbestos-containing ceiling materials, and asbestos in building mechanical systems serving the original station construction
  • Base utility systems — the base steam heating and utility distribution serving older Mayport buildings used asbestos-insulated pipe in the base heating and utility distribution systems through the older portions of the installation

Shipyard and Maintenance Activity

Naval Station Mayport supports a Ship Repair Facility (SRF) providing intermediate-level maintenance for Atlantic Fleet surface ships. Maintenance work performed by SRF Mayport and embarked ship’s force personnel on older surface combatants during extended maintenance periods involved work in areas with asbestos-containing materials in the ships’ engineering spaces.

VA Claims for NS Mayport Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Navy vessels and at naval installations. Veterans who served aboard Mayport-homeported surface combatants built before the mid-1980s asbestos phase-down and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits. Prior assignments aboard destroyers, frigates, and carriers homeported at Mayport during the 1950s through early 1980s are particularly relevant to asbestos exposure documentation.