Naval Station Newport, established in 1869 on Coasters Harbor Island in Newport, Rhode Island, is one of the Navy’s oldest and most historically significant training and education installations. Newport hosts the Naval War College (the Navy’s senior professional military education institution), Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Officer Candidate School (OCS), Surface Warfare Officers School (SWOS), and other Navy training commands. The station’s facilities span construction eras from Victorian-era brick buildings (some of the oldest continuously occupied Naval facilities in the United States) through WWII military construction expansion and Cold War facility upgrades. Newport processed tens of thousands of naval officers through OCS, SWOS, and Naval War College programs, with officer candidates and students from across the fleet assigned to Newport for weeks to months of professional military education. The WWII-era and Cold War construction at Naval Station Newport used military construction materials including asbestos-containing products in the training buildings, barracks, and support infrastructure.

Multi-Era Facility Construction and Asbestos

Newport’s multi-era construction incorporated asbestos throughout:

  • WWII-era Officer Candidate School construction — the Officer Candidate School facilities at Newport built during the WWII expansion used wartime military construction with asbestos floor tile, asbestos ceiling materials, and asbestos pipe insulation in the OCS barracks and training building mechanical systems. Naval officer candidates and instructors accumulated asbestos exposure from the WWII-era OCS facility construction during their Newport training assignments
  • Cold War training facility construction — Cold War-era facility construction at Naval Station Newport for Surface Warfare Officers School and Naval War College used military construction with asbestos-containing building materials including asbestos floor tile in administrative and classroom buildings, asbestos pipe insulation in the training facility mechanical systems, and asbestos ceiling products in the classroom and office spaces
  • Naval War College facility construction — the Naval War College buildings on the Newport campus — including Luce Hall and associated academic buildings — incorporated WWII-era and Cold War military construction with asbestos-containing building materials in the academic facility construction

NUWC Newport’s research and laboratory facilities incorporated asbestos:

  • Research and laboratory building construction — the Naval Undersea Warfare Center research and test facilities at Newport used Cold War military construction with asbestos-containing building materials in the laboratory, test facility, and industrial facility construction, with NUWC civilian and military personnel working in these asbestos-containing research facilities

VA Claims for Naval Station Newport Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at naval stations. Navy personnel who served at Naval Station Newport and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.