Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, located in Orange County, California between Long Beach and Huntington Beach, was established in 1944 as a Pacific Fleet weapons loading and ammunition storage facility. The station provides ordnance loading support for Pacific Fleet surface ships and stores naval weapons and ammunition in the station’s ordnance storage magazines and igloos. Navy ordnance and weapons specialists working at Seal Beach throughout the WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, and Cold War eras were stationed in facilities that used asbestos-containing construction materials consistent with military industrial facility construction of the period.

Ordnance Storage and Handling Facility Asbestos

Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach’s ordnance facilities incorporated asbestos:

  • Magazine and igloo construction — the ordnance storage magazines and earth-covered igloo storage structures at Seal Beach used military industrial construction with asbestos-containing building products in the storage facility construction. Ordnance specialists working in and around these storage facilities accumulated asbestos exposure from the construction materials in the ordnance storage buildings
  • Ordnance assembly and maintenance buildings — the ordnance maintenance and weapons assembly buildings at Seal Beach used WWII-era and Cold War military industrial construction with asbestos floor tile, asbestos ceiling products, and asbestos-containing pipe insulation in the mechanical systems of the ordnance handling facility buildings
  • Pier and weapons loading facilities — the weapons loading pier facilities and shipside ordnance handling structures at Seal Beach used military construction with asbestos-containing materials in the pier-side support buildings and ordnance handling structures

Shore Support and Administrative Facilities

The station’s administrative and support facility stock incorporated asbestos:

  • Administrative and barracks buildings — the administrative buildings and housing facilities at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach used WWII-era and Cold War military construction with asbestos floor tile, asbestos ceiling products, and asbestos pipe insulation in the residential and administrative facility mechanical systems

VA Claims for Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach Veterans

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