Iowa Class Battleships (BB-61 through BB-64) — Asbestos in Navy Battleships

The Iowa class battleships — USS Iowa (BB-61), USS New Jersey (BB-62), USS Missouri (BB-63), and USS Wisconsin (BB-64) — were the largest and most powerful surface warships in US Navy history. Built between 1940 and 1944 at New York Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, the Iowa class used four General Electric steam turbine plants with eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers operating at 565 PSI / 850°F, generating 212,000 total shaft horsepower. The scale of the Iowa class engineering plant — four engine rooms and four firerooms with eight large boilers — produced correspondingly vast quantities of asbestos insulation in the engineering spaces, making Iowa class battleships one of the most extensively asbestos-insulated vessel types in the US fleet.

Eight-Boiler Steam Plant and Asbestos Scale

The Iowa class engineering plant’s enormous scale meant asbestos insulation was present in quantities far exceeding those aboard destroyers or cruisers:

• Eight B&W boilers in four firerooms each requiring asbestos block and sectional covering on boiler casings, steam drums, superheater sections, and uptakes in large amounts commensurate with the battleship boiler size
• Four GE steam turbine sets in four engine rooms each with extensive asbestos block insulation on turbine casings and exhaust connections
• Main steam distribution piping in the battleship’s engineering spaces running at 565 PSI — covered with asbestos block insulation throughout the machinery deck spaces
• Auxiliary steam systems serving the battleship’s large crew complement through laundry, galley, heating, and domestic hot water systems using asbestos-insulated pipe throughout interior spaces
• Interior ship construction in crew berthing, divisional spaces, and officer country throughout the large battleship hull using asbestos floor tile, overhead lagging, and bulkhead insulation in all interior spaces

Multiple Reactivations and Asbestos

The Iowa class served during WWII, was mothballed after the war, reactivated for the Korean War, again mothballed, reactivated for New Jersey during Vietnam, again inactivated, and then all four hulls were reactivated during the 1980s Reagan naval buildup. Each reactivation and subsequent service period placed new crews aboard vessels with the original WWII-era asbestos insulation — which had been aging and becoming increasingly friable through decades of mothballing and active service. Veterans who served during the Cold War reactivations (1968 New Jersey in Vietnam; 1984-1992 all four hulls) were present in engineering spaces where the original 1940s asbestos insulation had been deteriorating for decades.

USS Missouri — Surrender of Japan

USS Missouri (BB-63), commissioned in 1944, was the site of the Japanese surrender ceremony ending World War II on September 2, 1945. Her historical significance has kept her prominent in the public record, and veterans who served aboard Missouri during any of her active commissions had asbestos exposure from the original New York Naval Shipyard construction.

VA Claims for Iowa Class Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Navy battleships. Veterans who served aboard any Iowa class battleship during any period of active commission — WWII, Korea, Vietnam, or the 1980s reactivation — and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.

Source notes: equipment-manifest entries (where shown) are sourced from public-record BUSHIPS (Bureau of Ships) documentation, NARA archives, and the public asbestos litigation record. Manufacturer attributions link to documented asbestos-product histories on AsbestosIndex.com where available. Nothing on this page constitutes medical or legal advice.