Product Description

De Laval Steam Turbine Company allegedly furnished main-propulsion and auxiliary steam turbines to the U.S. Navy and to Navy shipbuilders across the mid-twentieth century. Turbine casings, steam chests, and high-pressure cylinders on De Laval Navy equipment were routinely lagged with asbestos-containing block, asbestos blanket, and asbestos finishing cements to contain the extreme surface temperatures characteristic of superheated Navy steam plants. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that De Laval specified, supplied, or knew that asbestos lagging systems would be applied to its turbine casings in normal Navy service, and that the lagging was disturbed on a recurring basis throughout the operational life of each hull.

De Laval Navy turbines were installed on destroyers, destroyer escorts, auxiliaries, cargo and supply vessels, and other classes across the World War II fleet and its Cold War successors. The compact engineering spaces on these hulls concentrated any lagging disturbance into a narrow ventilation envelope shared by every rating who worked forward of the reduction gear.

Workers Exposed

  • Boiler tenders (BT) and machinist’s mates (MM) working the main-propulsion turbines and auxiliary turbo-generator sets during watch, casualty response, and pre-underway inspections.
  • Hull technicians (HT) and shipfitters cutting or grinding adjacent structure where lagging had to be scraped back for access.
  • Shipyard insulators (HFIAW Locals working Navy yards and private-yard overhaul contracts) who removed and re-applied De Laval turbine lagging during availabilities, regular overhauls, and conversions.
  • Pipefitters (UA) breaking steam lines at turbine gland connections, exposing lagged surfaces during valve and packing work.
  • Machinists and millwrights during turbine casing openings for rotor inspection, blade repair, and diaphragm work.

Bystander exposures in confined machinery spaces were universal — every rating standing watch in the same compartment breathed the same air as the workers physically disturbing the lagging.