Quartermasters — QMs — performed ship navigation, chart work, celestial navigation, helm watch, and lookout duties aboard Navy surface ships. QM billets placed these personnel on the ship’s bridge, in the chart room, and at helm watch positions in the pilothouse — the elevated superstructure spaces above the main deck on surface combatants and the island structure on aircraft carriers. Surface ships and carriers built before the mid-1970s asbestos phase-down used asbestos-containing materials in the interior construction of these spaces, including in the mechanical systems serving the bridge and superstructure.

Bridge and Superstructure Asbestos

QMs working in the ship’s bridge and pilothouse of surface ships built with asbestos construction:

  • Pilothouse and bridge interior — the interior lining, overhead, and mechanical system piping in the pilothouse of destroyers, cruisers, and carriers built in the WWII and early Cold War era used asbestos-containing construction materials. Steam heating serving the bridge and pilothouse used asbestos-insulated steam piping in the heating circuit, with piping running through the overhead and bulkheads of the bridge structure
  • Chart room — the ship’s chart room, where QMs prepared and updated navigation plots throughout the voyage, was an interior space with asbestos-containing overhead and bulkhead materials in older vessel construction

Carrier Island Structure

QMs assigned to aircraft carrier billets stood navigation watches in the carrier’s island structure:

  • Carrier island interior — the island structure on carriers (CV, CVA, CVS) built before the mid-1970s asbestos phase-down used asbestos-containing materials in the interior construction of the island structure, including the flag bridge, navigation bridge, and associated island compartments. QMs on carrier navigation watches spent their watch time in island structure spaces with asbestos in the interior overhead and mechanical systems
  • Pilothouse heating — steam-heated spaces in the carrier pilothouse and navigation bridge used asbestos-insulated steam supply piping in the heating circuit serving these spaces

Prolonged Watch-Standing Exposure

Unlike ratings with episodic exposure to specific equipment, QM asbestos exposure came from prolonged occupancy of interior spaces:

  • QMs stood watch rotations requiring continuous occupancy of the bridge and pilothouse for extended periods — typically 4 hours on, 8 hours off — with daily watch occupancy in the same interior spaces containing structural asbestos
  • Extended deployments multiplied this daily watch-standing exposure across months of continuous watch rotation

VA Claims for QM Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Navy vessels. Quartermasters who served in navigation billets aboard surface ships — particularly carriers — 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.