Aviation Ordnancemen (AO rating) were responsible for the stowage, assembly, handling, and loading of aviation weapons — including bombs, rockets, missiles, and gun ammunition — aboard aircraft carriers and at Naval Air Stations. AO-rated sailors worked in ordnance magazines below the carrier’s hangar deck, in weapons elevator shafts, and on the flight deck loading aircraft weapons. These spaces were built with asbestos-containing materials consistent with Navy carrier construction standards through the 1970s.

Ordnance Magazine and Handling Space Construction

Aircraft carrier weapons magazines and ordnance handling spaces were below-deck enclosed compartments built with the same interior construction materials standard in Navy carrier construction:

  • Magazine bulkheads and overheads used asbestos board and lagging materials in the fireproofing and insulation systems separating ordnance spaces from adjacent machinery and fuel spaces
  • Weapons elevator shafts carrying ordnance from magazine to hangar deck and flight deck were enclosed spaces with asbestos-containing construction in the elevator shaft walls and machinery compartments
  • Ordnance assembly areas in carrier lower decks where AOs built weapons packages were surrounded by the asbestos-containing construction standard in carrier interior spaces
  • Flight deck structure beneath the ordnance stations used asbestos thermal protection materials in the flight deck insulation system

Adjacent Engineering Space Exposure

Carrier ordnance magazines were located adjacent to and above the ship’s engineering spaces, where boiler rooms, steam piping, and fuel handling systems with asbestos insulation were present. AO-rated sailors whose magazines or work stations were near engineering spaces were exposed to asbestos fiber from degrading insulation on overhead steam lines and bulkhead materials separating ordnance and machinery spaces.

Shore Ordnance Facility Exposure

AO-rated sailors also served at Naval Air Station ordnance facilities — weapons storage magazines, assembly buildings, and operational handling areas. Shore ordnance facilities built before the mid-1970s contained asbestos in building construction, steam heating pipe insulation, and fire suppression system components consistent with Navy shore installation construction standards.

VA Claims for AO-Rated Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Navy vessels and at Navy shore installations. AO-rated veterans who served aboard carriers or at naval air station ordnance facilities before the early 1980s and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.