Gunner’s Mates (GM) served as the Navy’s weapons technicians, responsible for the maintenance and operation of the full range of Navy armaments — from 5-inch gun mounts and missile launching systems on destroyers and cruisers to Harpoon missile systems and small arms armories throughout the fleet. GMs worked primarily in weapons stations, gun mounts, missile handling rooms, and ordnance magazines — spaces built within ships constructed with asbestos-containing materials throughout their interior construction.

Shipboard Weapons Space Asbestos Exposure

Gunner’s Mates working in the weapons handling and magazine spaces of pre-1975 vessels were surrounded by asbestos-containing construction materials in their working spaces:

  • Ordnance magazines and handling rooms — spaces storing ammunition, missiles, and projectiles built with asbestos-containing bulkhead insulation and overhead construction in ships designed before the asbestos phase-down. Magazines were designed with fire-resistant construction using asbestos-containing materials separating ordnance storage from the rest of the ship
  • Gun mount spaces on 5-inch and larger gun mounts aboard destroyers and cruisers, where the below-deck portions of the gun mount installation were built within the asbestos-containing hull structure
  • Missile magazine and handling rooms on guided missile ships — the magazine, handling room, and missile house spaces for TALOS, Terrier, Tartar, and later Standard missile systems were built within the hull structure using standard asbestos-containing interior construction materials
  • Crew berthing and ship interior — all crew including GMs lived in berthing spaces built with asbestos floor tile, overhead lagging, and bulkhead insulation throughout the pre-1975 vessel interior

CIWS and Later Systems

Gunner’s Mates serving in later ratings categories — including those operating and maintaining the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) and other later-era weapons systems — served aboard ships where earlier asbestos-containing construction remained in older portions of the hull even as newer systems were added.

GMs assigned to Naval Weapons Stations — Yorktown (Virginia), Seal Beach (California), Concord (California), Charleston (South Carolina) — worked in weapons handling facilities and magazine structures at these installations, some of which occupied older building infrastructure with asbestos-containing materials in building mechanical systems and construction.

Ordnance Handling Ships

GMs assigned to ammunition ships (AE class), combat stores ships (AFS), and fast combat support ships (AOE) — vessels operating in the underway replenishment force — worked aboard auxiliaries with steam propulsion plants requiring extensive asbestos insulation in their engineering spaces, in addition to the asbestos-containing construction of ordnance handling spaces.

VA Claims for GM Rating Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure for Navy veterans who served aboard vessels built before the mid-1970s asbestos phase-down. Gunner’s Mates who served aboard pre-1975 combatants and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits based on asbestos exposure in shipboard ordnance and berthing spaces.