The Machinery Repairman (MR) rating operated the ship’s machine shop — fabricating precision replacement parts, machining components for engineering plant repairs, and maintaining the lathes, milling machines, and other machine tools used throughout the vessel. Where the Machinist’s Mate (MM) operated and maintained propulsion machinery, the MR made the parts. That distinction placed MRs in direct, hands-on contact with asbestos-containing gaskets, asbestos-insulated components, and asbestos-containing machine tool materials during precision machining operations — generating airborne fiber at close range in the enclosed machine shop environment.

Publicly filed asbestos litigation records document MR exposure from both shipboard machine shop operations and shore-based machine shops where retired MRs often continued working as civilian machinists.

Documented Exposure Sources

Asbestos Gasket Machining and Removal

The most consistently documented MR asbestos exposure pathway in the publicly filed record is asbestos gasket handling — specifically the removal, scraping, and replacement of asbestos-containing sheet gaskets from engine flanges, valve bodies, and heat exchanger connections throughout the engineering plant.

“Removed asbestos gaskets from Leslie [valve] con[nections]” — deposition testimony directly documents an MR removing asbestos gaskets from a named valve manufacturer’s products during machine shop repair work. “Removed gaskets from the flanges” — additional deposition testimony establishing the gasket-removal work activity.

“And they carried the Garlock gasket [in the machine shop]” — deposition testimony documents Garlock asbestos gaskets as the standard supply item in the machine shop environment where MRs worked. “The majority of my work with Garlock asbes[tos gaskets]” — testimony establishing the volume and frequency of Garlock asbestos gasket contact in MR work.

“Number of asbestos gaskets and asbestos packin[g]” — corpus documentation of the quantity of asbestos gasket and packing material that passed through the machine shop in the course of normal engineering plant maintenance.

Lathe and Precision Machining Operations

MRs operated lathes and milling machines to turn replacement parts. When the parts being machined contained asbestos — asbestos-containing insulation, asbestos-composite components, or asbestos board — lathe and milling operations generated asbestos dust at the cutting face, in the immediate work area, and throughout the enclosed machine shop.

“Bevelling, or lathe-turning is done” in connection with asbestos-containing materials — publicly filed records document lathe operations on asbestos-containing workpieces. “Check alignment of engine lathe in machine[shop]” — the engine lathe as the MR’s primary tool is confirmed in publicly filed records.

“Asbestos air cell insulation” — a specific asbestos insulation product documented in the machine shop context, consistent with the MR role in fabricating and machining insulation components for engineering plant repairs.

Machine Shop Gasket Supply and Direct Contact

The machine shop was the vessel’s supply and fabrication point for replacement gaskets across the entire engineering plant. MRs who stocked, cut, and distributed asbestos sheet gasket material from the machine shop supply had the highest sustained daily asbestos contact of any rating connected to gasket work.

“And so the gasket would be replaced” — deposition testimony in the MR work context establishing routine gasket replacement as a recurring machine shop function.

Ships and Shore Assignments

“Jack’s career as a machinery repairman aboard [ship]” — publicly filed records document a career MR serving aboard Navy vessels, with asbestos exposure documented during his shipboard machine shop service. “Jack worked as a naval machinery repairman” — additional corpus reference establishing shipboard MR service.

Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and other shore installations are documented alongside MR references in the corpus — establishing that shore-duty MRs at naval installations maintained machine shops with the same asbestos-containing tooling and supply environment as shipboard shops.

“Machinist’s Class A School, Bainbridge” — MR training at the Naval Training Center at Bainbridge, Maryland is documented in publicly filed records, placing MRs at a shore facility with asbestos-containing building infrastructure during their rating school training.

Civilian Machine Shop Continuation

The publicly filed record documents a civilian continuation pattern common to retired MRs: “When he left the Navy, he wound up [working at a machine shop]” — MRs who transitioned to civilian machine shop work continued in the same occupational environment, often with the same asbestos-containing gasket products.

“Champagne started working for Triple A Machine Shop” and “Champagne alleged direct asbestos exposure” — publicly filed case records document a retired Navy machinist’s continued asbestos exposure in a civilian machine shop setting, confirming the occupational continuity between Navy MR service and civilian machining careers.

Documented Rating and Occupational Classification

“FORMATINET Machinery Repairman (MR) Perform duties of…” — the Navy’s rating training guide entry for the MR rate documents the duties that generated asbestos exposure. “And a machinery repairman is a different [rating from Machinist’s Mate]” — deposition testimony establishes the MR as a distinct rate from the MM, with its own exposure profile centered on machine shop operations.

“Boiler tender / machinery repairman who spent various [years aboard ship]” — corpus documentation of combined BT/MR career histories, where sailors who held both rates across their careers carried additive exposure from both the boiler room (BT) and machine shop (MR) environments.

“Navy machinery repairman N-2” — exposure classification record in the publicly filed litigation corpus establishing MR within the Navy’s asbestos exposure classification framework.

The Machinery Repairman rating qualifies for VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) based on documented below-deck machine shop operations with asbestos-containing gaskets, lathe work on asbestos-containing parts, and sustained daily contact with asbestos sheet gasket material in the machine shop supply role.

Key documents for an MR claim:

  • DD-214 Block 11 — primary specialty showing MR rate
  • Ship assignments — duty stations from DD-214 or NARA muster rolls
  • Diagnosis — mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, asbestosis, or pleural disease

Civil claims may run against gasket manufacturers (Garlock Sealing Technologies, John Crane, Flexitallic), valve manufacturers whose asbestos gaskets were maintained by MRs (Leslie, Crane Co., Velan), and asbestos insulation manufacturers whose products were machined in the ship’s machine shop.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956

All consultations are free. No fee unless a financial recovery is made on your behalf.

Exposure documentation derived from publicly filed asbestos litigation records including deposition testimony from Navy Machinery Repairmen and civilian machinists with prior Navy MR service. This does not constitute legal or medical advice.