The Pearl Harbor Naval Complex — comprising Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (NSY & IMF), and the subordinate activities of Fleet Activities Pearl Harbor — served as the primary forward operating base for US Pacific Fleet forces throughout World War II and the Cold War. Pearl Harbor was home port for Pacific Fleet submarines, surface combatants, and auxiliaries, and the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard performed maintenance and overhaul on the full range of Pacific Fleet vessels. Navy personnel who served at Pearl Harbor in any capacity — aboard ships, at the shipyard, or in shore-based commands — encountered asbestos across multiple exposure pathways.

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (PHNS) was one of the major US naval shipyards performing depot-level overhaul and maintenance on Pacific Fleet vessels. Shipyard work at PHNS involved the same heavy asbestos exposure patterns as other naval shipyards:

  • Insulation trades at PHNS performed boiler and steam plant insulation work, stripping and replacing asbestos insulation on destroyers, cruisers, submarines, and other Pacific Fleet vessels undergoing overhaul at the Pearl Harbor yard
  • Shipyard industrial facilities — the machine shops, boiler shops, pipe shops, and insulation shops at PHNS — contained asbestos in older building mechanical systems and in the insulation materials used in repair work
  • Dry dock operations at Pearl Harbor involved major hull work on vessels with asbestos-insulated engineering spaces, creating asbestos fiber exposure for shipyard workers and ship’s company personnel present during the drydock period

Pacific Submarine Force

Pearl Harbor served as the primary forward homeport for Pacific Fleet submarines throughout the Cold War. Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBNs) and fast-attack submarines (SSNs) home-ported at Pearl Harbor used Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for nuclear refueling and periodic overhaul, concentrating submarine engineering rating asbestos exposure at the Pearl Harbor complex.

Shore Installation and WWII-Era Construction

Pearl Harbor’s shore installation — barracks, administrative buildings, facility shops, and support structures — includes extensive WWII-era construction with asbestos-containing materials in building mechanical systems and construction. Shore-based naval personnel working in older Pearl Harbor buildings occupied spaces with asbestos in heating, ventilation, and utility infrastructure.

Historical Significance and Veteran Presence

USS Arizona (BB-39), lost at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, remains entombed there as a war memorial. The naval installation that has surrounded the memorial site throughout the postwar period has been a continuous home for Navy personnel — and those who served at Pearl Harbor across any era of the Cold War had the asbestos exposure pathways described above.

VA Claims for Pearl Harbor Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at naval installations. Veterans who served at Pearl Harbor Naval Complex — aboard Pacific Fleet ships, at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, or in shore commands — before the early 1980s and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.