Sonar Technicians — STs, designated SQ (Sonarman) in earlier rating nomenclature — operated and maintained the passive and active sonar systems used by Navy surface ships and submarines for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) detection and prosecution of submarine contacts. ST billets were aboard destroyers, frigates, and submarines where sonar watch-standing and sonar equipment maintenance were primary operational duties. ST personnel worked in sonar control rooms, sonar equipment spaces, and sonar dome access areas on surface ships and submarines built before the asbestos phase-down, in spaces with asbestos-containing construction throughout the ship’s interior.

Sonar Control Room and Equipment Space Environment

STs worked in sonar control rooms and sonar equipment spaces throughout their watch rotations:

  • Sonar control room interior — the sonar control room aboard destroyers and frigates was an enclosed space in the ship’s interior with overhead and bulkhead construction containing asbestos in ships built before the mid-1970s phase-down. STs standing sonar watch in the sonar control room accumulated ambient asbestos exposure from the structural and mechanical system insulation in the control room space
  • Sonar equipment rooms — the sonar electronics equipment rooms housing sonar transmitter-receivers, sonar signal processors, and sonar display electronics were below-deck spaces with asbestos-containing overhead and mechanical system construction in older surface ship and submarine construction
  • Sonar space air conditioning — sonar electronics equipment required precisely controlled temperature environments, with cooling systems in sonar spaces using asbestos-insulated piping in cooling circuits of ships built with asbestos-era construction

Submarine Sonar Operations

Sonar Technicians assigned to submarine billets operated sonar systems in the restricted interior spaces of submarines:

  • Submarine sonar compartment — attack submarines (SSN) and ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) had dedicated sonar spaces in the forward compartment with sonar equipment and sonar operator positions. In submarines built before the mid-1980s nuclear plant phase-down period (Los Angeles class through earlier boats), the sonar compartment interior had asbestos-containing materials in the overhead and bulkhead construction
  • Submarine hull-mounted sonar maintenance — sonar dome and hull-mounted transducer maintenance in submarines required work in and around the submarine’s forward sonar array areas

Older Sonar Electronics and Asbestos

Sonar electronics equipment from the 1950s and 1960s — AN/SQS-23, AN/SQS-26, and earlier sonar systems — used asbestos-containing materials in high-power electronics components:

  • High-power sonar transmitter assemblies used asbestos in the transmitter power amplifier stages where high voltage and heat generation required thermal isolation from surrounding equipment
  • Sonar transducer power amplifier components used asbestos board as an electrical insulator and heat shield in some sonar equipment rack configurations

VA Claims for ST Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Navy surface ships and submarines. Sonar Technicians who served in sonar billets aboard destroyers, frigates, and submarines built before the mid-1970s (surface ships) or mid-1980s (submarines) asbestos phase-down and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.