USS Lexington (CV-16) — Asbestos Exposure Record for Navy Veterans

USS Lexington (CV-16) — popularly known as “The Blue Ghost” — was commissioned 17 February 1943 and served the U.S. Navy continuously through her decommissioning on 8 November 1991, a service life of nearly 49 years. As an Essex-class aircraft carrier, she fought across the Pacific in World War II, supported operations during the Cold War, and finished her career as the Navy’s primary aviation training carrier (AVT-16) at Pensacola, Florida.

Across that span, Lexington’s crew and shipyard workers handled and lived around extensive asbestos-containing materials built into her structure and machinery — pipe lagging, boiler block insulation, gaskets, packing, deck tile, and joiner-bulkhead insulation. Boilermakers, machinist’s mates, electricians, pipefitters, hull technicians, and damage controlmen were among the rates with documented occupational exposure during normal service operations, repair, and overhaul.

Asbestos-Containing Materials Aboard Lexington

The Essex-class design relied on asbestos throughout the engineering plant and habitable spaces. Sailors who served aboard CV-16 between 1943 and 1991 were potentially exposed to:

• Pipe lagging and thermal insulation on steam, feed-water, fuel-oil, condensate, and saltwater piping throughout machinery spaces and pipe tunnels
• Boiler block insulation, refractory brick, and gun-blocks around the eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers
• Asbestos gaskets and braided packing in valves, flanges, pumps, condensers, heat exchangers, and turbine glands
• Sheet asbestos and Marinite panels as fire-stops, bulkhead insulation, and overhead insulation throughout the ship
• Vinyl asbestos floor tile (VAT) in passageways, berthing, mess decks, ready rooms, and office spaces
• Asbestos rope, wick, and tape in glands, joints, and seal applications
• Asbestos-impregnated insulation jackets and removable lagging on turbines, reduction gears, and auxiliary machinery
• Brake-band material on aircraft elevators, anchor windlasses, and capstan brakes

Photographic Record — Engineering Spaces & Documentation

Machinery space Industrial machine shop with multiple machines

Engineering drawing Technical schematic of ship engine room and fireroom

Ship photo Interior of naval machine shop with sailors operating equipment

Document Machinist Mate Three propeller instructional manual

Document Informational plaque describing the Lexington machine shop

Ship photo Low-pressure turbine component from a naval vessel

Document Boiler Technician Hero's Boiler instructional material

Exterior ship photo Aircraft carrier moored at pier

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VA Benefits for Lexington Veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, asbestosis, and pleural disease as conditions presumed to be service-connected for Navy veterans with documented asbestos exposure. If you served aboard Lexington in any rating that worked around the engineering spaces, boiler rooms, machinery spaces, magazines, or during overhaul/yard periods, your exposure is on the record as part of your service.

Available benefits may include disability compensation (rated 0–100%), Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for surviving spouses, VA health care priority enrollment, and special monthly compensation for severe cases. In parallel, surviving veterans and families may have claims against the asbestos bankruptcy trust funds established by the manufacturers of the asbestos-containing products used aboard ship. Trust claims are filed separately from VA benefits and do not reduce VA compensation.

Speak with an asbestos attorney with Navy veterans experience →

Photographic record sourced from the public asbestos litigation record. Image content depicts conditions documented aboard USS Lexington (CV-16) and related Essex-class machine shops and engineering spaces. Watermarking and editorial review applied per site standards.