Storekeepers — SKs — managed the Navy supply system aboard ships and at naval activities, responsible for receiving, cataloging, stowing, and issuing repair parts, consumables, and stores to support ship operations. SK billets on surface ships were in the supply department, with primary work locations in the ship’s supply office and below-deck storerooms throughout the ship. The below-deck location of ship’s storerooms — integral to the ship’s below-waterline spaces — placed SKs in areas of the ship with asbestos-containing insulation in structural, mechanical, and overhead systems throughout their working spaces.

Storeroom Environment and Structural Asbestos

SK work locations in surface ships built before the mid-1970s phase-down were surrounded by asbestos-containing construction materials:

  • Below-deck storeroom overhead insulation — the overhead and deckhead of below-deck storerooms on carriers, cruisers, and destroyers built in the WWII and Cold War era used asbestos insulation on structural overhead members, asbestos pipe covering on steam and utility piping running through storeroom spaces, and asbestos-containing materials in the overhead structure. SKs working in these spaces throughout the workday accumulated ambient asbestos exposure from the storeroom environment
  • Cold room and refrigerated stores — refrigerated storerooms for provisions storage used asbestos pipe insulation on the refrigeration plant supply and return piping in some vessel classes built before synthetic insulation displaced asbestos in refrigeration applications
  • Storeroom piping systems — steam heating, freshwater, firemain, and drainage piping running through or along the boundaries of below-deck storerooms used asbestos pipe covering throughout the pipe runs in WWII and Cold War era ship construction

Asbestos-Containing Spare Parts and Materials Stowage

SKs also managed the stowage and issuance of spare parts and materials that themselves contained asbestos:

  • Asbestos packing material — gasket sheet, braided packing, and asbestos rope were carried as stock items in ship’s supply, issued to engineering departments for valve maintenance. SKs cutting gasket sheet material to requisitioned dimensions disturbed asbestos fiber in the cutting process
  • Asbestos insulation materials — rolls of asbestos tape, asbestos blanket material, and associated insulation supplies carried in ship’s supply storerooms for engineering maintenance use
  • Asbestos-containing gaskets and packing — engineering spare parts stowed in the supply system included asbestos-containing valve packing, pump gaskets, and pipe flange gaskets as standard repair parts for steam plant maintenance

VA Claims for SK Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Navy vessels. Storekeepers who served in supply billets aboard surface ships built before the mid-1970s asbestos phase-down — particularly on larger vessels (carriers, cruisers, destroyers) with extensive below-deck storeroom spaces — and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.