The Bureau of Supply and Accounts (BUSANDA) — later reorganized as the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) — served as one of the two principal Navy commands overseeing the procurement, delivery, and distribution of materials and equipment installed aboard US Navy vessels. Published records in asbestos litigation establish that the Chief of BUSANDA (and subsequently NAVSUP), alongside the Chief of the Bureau of Ships (BUSHIPS) and its successor NAVSEA, “maintained and directed technical and contractual control over shipboard equipment” — a documented organizational responsibility that placed the supply command within the chain of Navy asbestos procurement authority.

Organizational Role in Asbestos Procurement

Court records from asbestos cases describe the Navy’s design and shipbuilding organization as including “several divisions and levels of authority concerning ship design, construction, maintenance, repair, and inspection.” BUSANDA/NAVSUP and BUSHIPS/NAVSEA together held oversight responsibility concerning equipment “built for installation on Navy ships” — which throughout the 1930s through 1970s included boilers, steam turbines, valves, pumps, and pipe insulation products that were supplied with asbestos-containing components.

NAVSUP maintained a network of Naval Supply Centers, Naval Supply Depots, and Naval Weapons Stations at installations across the United States and overseas through which asbestos-containing materials and equipment were received, warehoused, and distributed to fleet units and shore installations. Published shipping records document NAVSUP receiving officers at supply centers in Pearl Harbor, Charleston, and other locations — the logistics network through which asbestos insulation products moved from manufacturers to ships and shore facilities.

NAVSUP’s subordinate commands included Naval Supply Centers at major fleet homeports and overseas bases:

  • Naval Supply Center Pearl Harbor — the distribution hub for Pacific Fleet material needs including insulation and machinery parts
  • Naval Supply Center Charleston, South Carolina — Atlantic Fleet supply support
  • Naval Supply Depot, Fleet Post Office, San Francisco — Pacific overseas distribution
  • Naval Weapons Station Concord, CA and other weapons stations that also handled non-ordnance supply material

Shore personnel assigned to NAVSUP commands and Naval Supply Centers handled and warehoused asbestos-containing materials as part of normal supply operations. Fleet sailors who drew materials from naval supply facilities encountered the same asbestos-containing products documented in ship system maintenance records.

OPNAV and SECNAV Asbestos Directives

Published records in asbestos litigation document a January 1960 Occupational Hazards Release “summarizing significant information on occupational health and industrial hygiene” distributed by the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery — establishing that Navy commands including NAVSUP were aware of asbestos hazard information circulating within the naval establishment. OPNAVINST 6260.1 (1974) and SECNAV Instruction 6260.3 followed, establishing formal Navy asbestos control programs.

VA Claims Considerations

Veterans who served at Naval Supply Centers, Naval Supply Depots, or in NAVSUP commands during the period when asbestos-containing materials were in active distribution and use — generally through the late 1970s — were present in facilities and operations where asbestos-containing products were handled. Shore-duty exposure at Navy supply installations is covered under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) for VA presumptive service connection purposes.