Allen M. Sumner Class Destroyer (DD-692) — Asbestos in the Late-WWII Fleet Destroyer

The Allen M. Sumner class destroyers — 58 ships commissioned between 1944 and 1945, hull numbers DD-692 through DD-752 — were built as an improvement of the Fletcher class, adding a second 5-inch gun mount amidships while retaining the Fletcher class propulsion plant. The Sumner class used four Babcock & Wilcox or Foster Wheeler high-pressure boilers generating steam for two sets of Westinghouse or General Electric geared turbines producing 60,000 shaft horsepower on two shafts — the standard WWII destroyer propulsion arrangement. The class served in the Pacific during the closing months of World War II, with several ships sustaining kamikaze damage. Sumner class destroyers continued Cold War service through the Korean War and into the 1960s, with many hulls converted to radar picket destroyers (DDR), anti-submarine warfare destroyers (DDE), and destroyer escorts through hull conversion programs that extended the ships’ service lives. Many Sumner class hulls were transferred to allied navies under the Military Assistance Program after US Navy service. The four-boiler steam propulsion plant throughout the Sumner class was insulated with asbestos-containing materials consistent with WWII-era naval vessel construction, with Boiler Tenders and Machinist’s Mates maintaining the asbestos-insulated steam plant through the class’s WWII and Cold War service.

Sumner Class Four-Boiler Steam Plant Asbestos

The Sumner class steam plant incorporated extensive WWII-era asbestos insulation:

• Babcock & Wilcox and Foster Wheeler boiler casing insulation — the four high-pressure boilers in Sumner class boiler rooms were insulated with asbestos block insulation on boiler casing exterior surfaces, asbestos pipe covering on boiler steam connections, and asbestos cement and rope at boiler header connections. Boiler Tenders maintaining the boilers during WWII Pacific combat operations, Korean War deployments, and Cold War Atlantic and Pacific patrol operations worked in continuous proximity to the asbestos boiler casing insulation throughout each engineering watch rotation in Sumner class boiler rooms
• Westinghouse and GE turbine insulation — the main propulsion turbines in Sumner class engine rooms were insulated with asbestos block on turbine casings and asbestos lagging on high-pressure steam admission and crossover piping. Machinist’s Mates tending and maintaining the turbines in Sumner class engine rooms worked in the asbestos-insulated turbine spaces throughout their propulsion plant watch standing
• Steam piping insulation throughout engineering spaces — the main steam distribution systems, auxiliary steam lines, and steam trap systems throughout Sumner class engineering spaces used asbestos pipe covering and block insulation on all steam piping, creating pervasive asbestos insulation background in the engineering plant

Cold War Conversion Programs and Asbestos

Sumner class conversions extended service with retained asbestos:

• Radar picket (DDR) and ASW (DDE) conversions — Sumner class hulls converted to DDR radar picket and DDE anti-submarine warfare configurations at naval shipyards retained the original WWII-era asbestos-insulated steam propulsion plants through the hull conversion programs, with the legacy asbestos insulation remaining in place throughout the converted ships’ post-conversion service. Shipyard workers performing the hull conversions encountered the existing asbestos insulation in Sumner class engineering spaces during the conversion work
• Post-conversion Cold War service — Sumner class DDR and DDE conversions continued service through the late 1950s and 1960s with the WWII-era asbestos-insulated engineering plants intact, with successive generations of Boiler Tenders and Machinist’s Mates accumulating asbestos exposure from the aging WWII-era insulation throughout the post-conversion service period

VA Claims for Sumner Class Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Navy destroyers. Boiler Tenders, Machinist’s Mates, and crew members who served aboard Allen M. Sumner 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.