Navy Damage Controlmen (DC) — the enlisted rating responsible for maintaining shipboard firefighting systems, flooding control equipment, damage control tools and equipment, and the ship’s watertight integrity — served aboard virtually every class of Navy surface vessel from combatants to auxiliaries. DC ratings performed pipe repair operations throughout the ship’s hull systems, maintaining the ship’s firefighting mains, flooding boundaries, and hull penetrations that sustained the ship’s ability to survive battle damage and casualty conditions. Damage Controlmen performing pipe repair and boundary inspection operations throughout the ship hull worked in direct contact with asbestos-containing pipe insulation materials on steam and hot water distribution lines, asbestos-containing gasket and packing materials in hull system valves and pipe fittings, and the background asbestos exposure inherent to the asbestos-insulated interior construction of WWII-era and Cold War Navy vessels. The DC rating’s responsibility for ship-wide hull maintenance and damage control readiness placed Damage Controlmen in sustained contact with asbestos-containing materials throughout the entire shipboard hull and engineering plant.

Pipe Repair and Hull System Maintenance Asbestos

DC ratings performing pipe repair throughout the ship encountered asbestos:

  • Steam and hot water pipe repair operations — Damage Controlmen performing pipe repair on steam distribution lines, hot water circulation lines, and heating system piping throughout the ship handled asbestos-containing pipe covering and block insulation materials during each pipe repair evolution. DC ratings cutting through pipe insulation to access damaged pipe sections, removing asbestos pipe covering sections, and installing replacement pipe covering sections in ship spaces disturbed asbestos insulation materials throughout the pipe repair process, releasing asbestos fiber in the ship spaces where the pipe repair work was performed
  • Hull valve and fitting packing maintenance — hull system valves, sea chest valves, and flooding boundary fittings throughout WWII-era and Cold War Navy vessels used asbestos-containing braided packing in valve stem stuffing boxes and asbestos-containing compressed gasket materials at pipe flanges and fitting joints. Damage Controlmen performing valve repacking and fitting maintenance throughout the ship’s hull systems removed and replaced asbestos-containing valve packing and gasket materials during each valve maintenance and pipe fitting maintenance operation
  • Damage control locker and equipment stowage — damage control equipment and pipe repair materials stowed in shipboard damage control lockers included asbestos-containing materials — asbestos pipe repair clamps, asbestos sheet, and asbestos packing — maintained as emergency repair supplies. DC ratings handling, inventorying, and issuing damage control repair materials from damage control lockers encountered asbestos-containing repair supplies during routine damage control equipment maintenance

Firefighting System Maintenance Asbestos

DC ratings maintaining shipboard firefighting systems encountered asbestos:

  • Firefighting main and station maintenance — the shipboard firefighting main distribution systems delivering sea water to fire hose stations and foam system connections throughout the ship used asbestos-containing gasket materials in the flanged firefighting main connections and asbestos-containing packing in the firefighting main isolation valves. Damage Controlmen maintaining the firefighting main system — inspecting connections, repacking isolation valves, and servicing firefighting main components — encountered asbestos-containing gasket and packing materials throughout the firefighting main system maintenance operations
  • CO2 and foam system maintenance — shipboard CO2 flooding systems and aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) systems protecting machinery spaces and aviation fuel storage incorporated piping systems with asbestos-containing gasket and packing materials at system valve and connection flanges. DC ratings maintaining CO2 and foam firefighting systems encountered asbestos-containing materials in firefighting system piping and valve components

VA Claims for Navy Damage Controlmen

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure from Navy damage control and ship maintenance operations. Damage Controlmen who performed pipe repair, hull maintenance, and firefighting system maintenance operations aboard naval vessels constructed with asbestos-containing materials and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.