Navy Ship’s Servicemen (SH) — the enlisted rating responsible for operating the ship’s store, laundry, barbershop, and personal service facilities aboard naval vessels — provided the retail and personal service functions that supported crew welfare during extended deployments. SH ratings operated aboard aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, amphibious ships, and other naval vessels large enough to support ship’s store and personal service operations. SH ratings worked in the ship’s store retail spaces, barbershop, and laundry throughout the ship’s interior construction, living in crew berthing spaces and working in the service spaces of naval vessels. WWII-era and Cold War naval vessel interiors were constructed with asbestos-containing building materials — asbestos floor tile, asbestos overhead insulation, and asbestos pipe insulation on service system piping — throughout the crew living spaces and ship’s service spaces where SH ratings worked and lived during naval deployments.

Shipboard Service Space Construction and Asbestos

SH ratings worked in asbestos-containing shipboard spaces:

  • Ship’s store and retail space construction — the ship’s store spaces aboard aircraft carriers, cruisers, and amphibious vessels were enclosed within the ship’s interior construction using WWII-era and Cold War military construction materials including asbestos-containing bulkhead insulation, asbestos floor tile, and asbestos ceiling materials in the retail spaces where SH ratings worked. Ship’s Servicemen spending full workdays in these asbestos-containing retail and storage spaces accumulated asbestos exposure from the installed construction materials
  • Laundry facility construction — the ship’s laundry aboard naval vessels used asbestos pipe insulation on the hot water and steam piping serving the laundry equipment, and asbestos-containing building materials in the laundry space construction. SH ratings operating ship’s laundry equipment worked in these steam-served, asbestos-pipe-insulated laundry spaces throughout their watches
  • Barbershop space construction — the shipboard barbershop used asbestos-containing floor tile and construction materials in the enclosed barbershop space, consistent with the ship’s overall interior construction using asbestos-containing building products

Crew Berthing and Living Space Asbestos

SH ratings’ living spaces incorporated asbestos-containing materials:

  • Crew berthing construction — WWII-era and Cold War crew berthing spaces aboard naval vessels incorporated asbestos insulation on bulkhead surfaces, overhead pipe runs, and deckhead construction throughout the enlisted berthing areas where SH ratings slept and lived during naval deployments

VA Claims for Ship’s Servicemen

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Navy vessels. Ship’s Servicemen who served aboard naval vessels with asbestos-containing interior construction and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.