Spruance Class Destroyer (DD-963) — Asbestos in the Navy's First Gas Turbine Destroyer

The Spruance class guided missile destroyers — 31 ships commissioned between 1975 and 1983, hull numbers DD-963 through DD-992 — represented a major shift in United States Navy surface combatant propulsion, becoming the first US warship class to adopt gas turbine propulsion as the exclusive main propulsion system. The class used four General Electric LM2500 marine gas turbine engines in a COGAG (Combined Gas turbine And Gas turbine) arrangement, producing approximately 80,000 shaft horsepower on two shafts. All 31 Spruance class ships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi under a total package procurement contract. The Spruance class provided the hull and propulsion plant for the subsequent Kidd class guided missile destroyers (DDG-993 through DDG-996) and the Ticonderoga class cruisers (CG-47 series). Early Spruance class destroyers commissioned in the 1975–1979 period were built during the transitional era when asbestos-containing materials were being phased out of Navy construction specifications, with some asbestos-containing materials incorporated in exhaust uptake insulation, auxiliary machinery spaces, and crew habitability construction in the earliest-commissioned boats.

Gas Turbine Exhaust System and Transitional Asbestos

Early Spruance class boats incorporated asbestos in exhaust uptake systems:

• LM2500 gas turbine exhaust uptake insulation — the four LM2500 gas turbine exhaust uptake systems in Spruance class machinery spaces directed high-temperature exhaust gas from the gas turbine modules to the ship’s funnels. The earliest-commissioned Spruance class destroyers built in the 1975–1977 period incorporated thermal insulation on the gas turbine exhaust uptake structures that in some applications used transitional-era asbestos-containing thermal insulation materials consistent with Navy construction specifications being updated during the 1975–1977 construction period. Gas Turbine Systems Technicians (GSM) maintaining the LM2500 gas turbine exhaust systems in the Spruance class machinery spaces worked in proximity to these insulation materials during gas turbine maintenance watch standing
• Auxiliary machinery space construction — the auxiliary machinery spaces in early Spruance class destroyers — housing auxiliary diesel generators, auxiliary boilers, seawater systems, and habitability systems — incorporated transitional-era construction materials that in some spaces included asbestos-containing pipe insulation and insulation board in the auxiliary system construction of boats commissioned in the 1975–1978 period

Crew Space and Habitability Asbestos

Early Spruance class boats incorporated transitional asbestos in crew spaces:

• Crew berthing and living space construction — Spruance class destroyers commissioned in the 1975–1980 period were built during the transitional period when some asbestos-containing deck tile and interior construction materials were still present in Navy ship construction specifications. Crew members serving aboard early-commission Spruance class destroyers accumulated background asbestos exposure from the transitional-era interior construction materials in crew berthing and living spaces
• Auxiliary boiler insulation — Spruance class destroyers were fitted with an auxiliary boiler for steam generation for hotel services and emergency steam. The auxiliary boiler in early Spruance class boats incorporated asbestos-containing insulation on the boiler casing consistent with boiler insulation specifications of the mid-1970s transitional construction period

VA Claims for Spruance Class Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Navy destroyers. Gas Turbine Systems Technicians, Machinist’s Mates, and crew members who served aboard early-commission Spruance class destroyers 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.