Ticonderoga Class Cruiser (CG-47) — Asbestos in the Aegis Cruiser Class

The Ticonderoga class guided missile cruisers — 27 ships commissioned between 1983 and 1994, hull numbers CG-47 through CG-73 — were the first warships equipped with the Aegis Combat System and its SPY-1 phased array radar, providing the carrier battle group’s primary area air defense capability against both aircraft and ballistic missile threats. The Ticonderoga class used the Spruance class hull with four General Electric LM2500 gas turbines in a COGAG arrangement producing approximately 80,000 shaft horsepower on two shafts. All 27 ships were built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi and Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. The earliest Ticonderoga class cruisers commissioned in the 1983–1987 period were built during the late transitional era of the Navy’s asbestos phase-out, with the earliest-commissioned cruisers potentially incorporating some asbestos-containing materials in gas turbine exhaust uptake insulation and crew habitability construction consistent with the late Cold War construction specifications in effect during the ships’ construction.

Gas Turbine Exhaust Systems and Transitional Asbestos

Early Ticonderoga class ships incorporated transitional-era asbestos in exhaust systems:

• LM2500 gas turbine exhaust uptake insulation — the four LM2500 gas turbine exhaust uptake systems in Ticonderoga class machinery spaces directed high-temperature exhaust to the ship’s funnels. The earliest-commissioned Ticonderoga class cruisers built in the 1983–1985 period may have incorporated thermal insulation on gas turbine exhaust uptake structures that in some applications included transitional-era asbestos-containing thermal insulation materials carried over from the late 1970s construction specifications used for the initial Spruance class and early Ticonderoga class construction. Gas Turbine Systems Technicians (GSM) maintaining the LM2500 gas turbine exhaust systems worked in proximity to exhaust uptake insulation materials during gas turbine maintenance
• Auxiliary diesel generator systems — Ticonderoga class cruisers were fitted with auxiliary diesel generators with exhaust systems incorporating asbestos-containing gasket materials at exhaust system connections in the earliest-commissioned boats consistent with the late Cold War construction period specifications

Crew Space Construction

Early Ticonderoga class incorporated transitional construction:

• Crew berthing and living space construction — the earliest-commissioned Ticonderoga class cruisers (CG-47 through CG-52, commissioned 1983–1987) were built during the period when some interior construction materials transitional of the Navy’s asbestos phase-out remained in specifications. Crew members serving aboard the earliest-commission Ticonderoga class cruisers at commissioning may have accumulated background asbestos exposure from any transitional-era interior construction materials present in the crew habitability spaces

VA Claims for Ticonderoga Class Veterans

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