USS Coral Sea (CV-43) — Asbestos Aboard the Pacific Fleet's Midway Class Carrier

USS Coral Sea (CV-43) was the third Midway class aircraft carrier, commissioned in October 1947 at Newport News Shipbuilding after being laid down during World War II. Coral Sea served as a Pacific Fleet carrier for 43 years, conducting Vietnam War combat deployments from Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin and Cold War Pacific Fleet deployments until her decommissioning in 1990. Homeported at NAS Alameda and later NS Alameda in San Francisco Bay for much of her career, Coral Sea’s engineering spaces were built with WWII-era construction standards and were extensively insulated with asbestos throughout her active service life.

WWII-Era Engineering Plant and Asbestos

USS Coral Sea’s engineering plant was built with 1945-era construction standards:

• Twelve Babcock & Wilcox boilers — like her sister ships, Coral Sea carried twelve high-pressure boilers in four fire rooms, with the fire room environment surrounded by asbestos-insulated boiler casings, steam drum covers, superheater headers, and associated steam piping. Boiler Technicians assigned to Coral Sea’s fire rooms stood watch in heavily asbestos-insulated spaces throughout their shipboard tours
• Main steam piping — high-pressure superheated steam piping throughout Coral Sea’s engineering spaces used asbestos pipe covering in WWII-era construction on all main steam and auxiliary steam distribution piping
• Turbine casings — main propulsion turbine casings in four engine rooms had asbestos insulation on turbine external surfaces throughout Coral Sea’s service life

Vietnam War Combat Deployments

USS Coral Sea conducted multiple combat deployments during the Vietnam War:

• Engineering ratings aboard Coral Sea during Vietnam combat deployments stood continuous engineering watch rotations in the ship’s fire rooms and engine rooms during sustained air wing launch-and-recovery operations, accumulating asbestos exposure in the asbestos-insulated engineering spaces during each combat cruise
• The operational tempo of Vietnam combat operations — continuous aircraft launch and recovery cycles requiring sustained high-power engineering plant operation — generated more engineering watch-standing hours per deployment than peacetime operations

Multiple Modernization Cycles

USS Coral Sea underwent multiple SCB modernization periods — including the SCB-110A (angled deck) conversion — which added new construction to the 1947-era hull:

• Each modernization period added new asbestos-containing construction materials from the modernization era to the original 1947-era asbestos construction, creating a layered asbestos environment from multiple construction periods throughout the ship’s interior and engineering spaces

VA Claims for USS Coral Sea Veterans

VA evaluates asbestos-related disability claims on a case-by-case basis. Veterans generally need evidence of in-service asbestos exposure, a current asbestos-related diagnosis, and a medical link between them. Engineering ratings who served in fireroom and engine room billets aboard USS Coral Sea during her Vietnam War or Cold War service 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.