USS Missouri (BB-63) — Asbestos in the Iowa Class Battleship

USS Missouri (BB-63), an Iowa class battleship commissioned June 11, 1944 at the New York Naval Shipyard (Brooklyn, New York), is the last battleship to have served in the US Navy and the site of the formal Japanese surrender ceremony on September 2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay. Missouri was armed with nine 16-inch guns in three triple turrets and powered by eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers driving four General Electric geared steam turbines producing 212,000 shaft horsepower. Missouri served through WWII Pacific operations, was placed in reserve, reactivated for Korean War service (1950–1955), and reactivated again for the 1986–1992 naval buildup before final decommissioning. Missouri is now preserved as a museum at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Iowa Class Steam Plant and Asbestos

USS Missouri’s eight-boiler WWII steam plant used asbestos throughout the engineering compartments:

• Main boiler insulation — the eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers in Missouri’s four fire rooms used asbestos block insulation on boiler casings and asbestos-containing refractory in the firebox construction. Boiler Technicians (BT) maintaining Missouri’s boilers worked in direct contact with asbestos-insulated boiler casings during the battleship’s multiple active service periods
• Main steam system pipe insulation — the high-pressure main steam piping from Missouri’s eight boilers to four turbine sets covered extensive distance in the battleship’s 887-foot hull, all insulated with asbestos pipe covering from the 1944 construction. Engineering ratings working in the machinery spaces were in continuous proximity to asbestos-insulated piping
• Turbine insulation — Missouri’s four General Electric main propulsion turbines used asbestos-containing insulation lagging consistent with WWII battleship construction specifications
• Auxiliary steam systems — the auxiliary steam systems serving Missouri’s electrical generation, crew habitability, and damage control systems used asbestos-insulated steam piping throughout the ship

Multiple Reactivation Service Periods

Missouri’s three active service periods created extended asbestos exposure windows:

• WWII service (1944–1948) — original commissioning and WWII Pacific campaign service with Missouri’s complete original WWII asbestos construction; crew during this period served aboard a newly built ship with full-strength asbestos insulation throughout
• Korean War reactivation (1950–1955) — reactivation for Korean War shore bombardment with the original asbestos insulation aging but still present in the engineering spaces
• 1986–1992 reactivation — final reactivation with Tomahawk cruise missile and Harpoon anti-ship missile battery additions; modernization retained much of the ship’s original interior and hull construction with residual asbestos-containing materials

Interior Construction Throughout

Missouri’s hull used standard WWII battleship construction materials in crew spaces:

• The enlisted crew berthing, mess decks, head compartments, and working spaces throughout Missouri’s interior used WWII-era construction products including asbestos deck tile, asbestos-containing overhead insulation, and standard period bulkhead construction throughout the battleship’s multiple-deck interior

VA Claims for USS Missouri Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure aboard Iowa class battleships. Engineering ratings and crew members who served aboard USS Missouri (BB-63) during any of the ship’s active service periods 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.