Fire Controlmen — FCs — maintained and operated the fire control systems that directed the Navy’s surface ship weapons — gun mounts, missile launchers, and close-in weapons systems — using fire control radar, analog fire control computers, and digital weapons direction systems. FC billets were aboard destroyers, cruisers, and carriers maintaining the ship’s combat systems, with FCs working in fire control equipment rooms, radar equipment spaces, and director platforms distributed throughout the ship’s superstructure. Ships built before the mid-1970s asbestos phase-down had asbestos in the structural insulation and mechanical systems serving fire control equipment spaces throughout the ship.

Fire Control Equipment Space Environment

FCs worked in fire control equipment rooms distributed throughout the ship’s superstructure and below-deck spaces:

  • Below-deck fire control equipment rooms — the Mk 56 gun fire control system, Mk 68 GFCS, and Aegis combat system equipment rooms in the ship’s interior spaces had asbestos-containing overhead and bulkhead construction in ships built before the mid-1970s phase-down. FCs working in these equipment spaces during maintenance and watch-standing accumulated ambient asbestos exposure from the space’s construction materials
  • Fire control system air conditioning and cooling — fire control electronics equipment required precisely controlled temperature environments, with cooling and air conditioning systems in fire control spaces using asbestos-insulated piping in the cooling circuits of ships built with full asbestos-era construction
  • Superstructure director platforms — the fire control directors on the ship’s superstructure — Mark 37 directors, Mark 56 directors — had enclosed director spaces housing the director’s electronics and optics, with asbestos-containing construction in the enclosed director spaces of ships built before the mid-1970s

Asbestos in Older Fire Control Equipment

Fire control systems from the late-WWII and 1950s era used asbestos-containing materials in some electronic components:

  • High-power radar transmitter insulation — the high-power radar transmitters in Mk 25 and early Mk 56 fire control radars used asbestos-containing insulation in high-voltage electronic components including magnetron assemblies and high-power waveguide sections where asbestos provided both thermal insulation and electrical isolation
  • Fire control computer thermal protection — the electromechanical analog fire control computers in Mk 37 and Mk 56 GFCS used asbestos-containing thermal protection in components where heat dissipation from mechanical computing elements required thermal isolation

Surface Combatant Distribution

FCs were assigned to every gun-armed surface combatant in the fleet — destroyers, cruisers, carriers (for secondary battery control) — making the FC rating one of the most broadly distributed aboard the combat ship inventory. FCs aboard Gearing class destroyers, Leahy class cruisers, and Forrest Sherman class destroyers during the 1960s-1970s served in the asbestos-insulated shipboard environment throughout their engineering tours.

VA Claims for FC Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Navy surface combatants. Fire Controlmen who served aboard surface ships built before the mid-1970s asbestos phase-down and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.