The Storekeeper (SK) rating managed shipboard and shore-based supply operations — ordering, receiving, storing, and issuing Navy material, repair parts, and consumable supplies. The publicly filed asbestos litigation record documents SK contact with asbestos specifically in the storekeeper role, SK service alongside Machinist’s Mates and Shipfitters at Navy Yards in the asbestos exposure context, and the Navy Supply System’s documented role as the distribution channel through which asbestos-containing materials reached every ship and shore installation in the fleet.

Documented Exposure Sources

Storekeeper — Direct Asbestos Contact

SK Listed Alongside High-Exposure Ratings

Navy Yard Storekeeper — Shore-Based Asbestos Exposure

Navy Yards maintained substantial storeroom inventories of asbestos-containing materials: asbestos pipe covering, asbestos block insulation, asbestos gasket sheet, braided asbestos packing, and asbestos-containing construction materials used throughout yard construction and repair operations. SKs who received, inventoried, and issued these materials handled asbestos-containing products as a routine part of their duties.

Navy Supply System — Asbestos Material Flow

Supply Spaces — Asbestos-Containing Construction

Shipboard supply spaces — storerooms, parts lockers, and the ship’s store — were constructed with the same asbestos-containing floor tile, overhead insulation, and bulkhead panels as other enclosed shipboard spaces. SKs who spent their working hours in these spaces accumulated asbestos exposure from the construction materials of their work environment, even in the absence of direct handling of asbestos-containing supply items.

Shore-based supply warehouses and parts stores at naval installations were constructed with asbestos-containing building materials standard to naval shore infrastructure of the era — including asbestos-containing floor tile, roofing, and pipe insulation.

Rating History

The Storekeeper rating served throughout the asbestos era managing the fleet’s complex supply chain, covering both shipboard supply operations and the Navy’s shore-based supply depots, Navy Yards, and Fleet Supply Centers.

The Storekeeper rating qualifies for VA service connection under VA asbestos-claim guidance based on documented storekeeper contact with asbestos, SK service alongside high-exposure ratings in Navy Yard environments, and the SK’s role within the Navy Supply System’s documented distribution of asbestos-containing materials. Navy veterans who served as SKs aboard pre-1980 vessels or at Navy Yards and shore supply facilities during the asbestos era may qualify regardless of whether they performed direct maintenance work.

Key documents for a SK claim:

  • DD-214 Block 11 — primary specialty showing SK rate
  • Ship and shore assignments — duty stations documenting sea duty and any Navy Yard or supply facility assignments
  • Diagnosis — mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, asbestosis, or pleural disease

Civil claims may run against manufacturers of asbestos-containing materials that SKs received, stored, and issued through the Navy Supply System.

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.

Documented asbestos exposure information derived from publicly filed asbestos litigation records. This does not constitute legal or medical advice.