Product Description

The Fairbanks Morse Model 38 8-1/8 opposed-piston (OP) two-stroke diesel engine was one of the two principal main propulsion engines used aboard U.S. Navy diesel-electric fleet submarines from the late 1930s through the diesel-boat era — competing with General Motors Winton / Cleveland Diesel Division engines for shipboard installation on the Gato, Balao, and Tench classes of WWII fleet submarines and their Greater Underwater Propulsion Power (Guppy) conversions and continuing on the non-nuclear Barbel-class boats. The Model 38 was subsequently retained as an emergency and auxiliary powerplant on later diesel submarines and as a service standard-generator engine aboard many U.S. Navy surface auxiliaries.

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Fairbanks Morse Navy submarine main propulsion engine assemblies were sealed and insulated with asbestos-containing materials across the documented Model 38 shipboard-service era:

  • Cylinder-liner base and airbox joint gaskets — compressed chrysotile-asbestos sheet gaskets between liner base and cylinder block, and at airbox access covers
  • Cylinder-head-to-block sealing rings — asbestos-composite fire ring and metal-clad soft-iron gaskets at the upper crankshaft cylinder head interface
  • Exhaust manifold and turbocharger housing flange gaskets — asbestos-composite gaskets at Model 38 exhaust manifold-to-cylinder joints, turbocharger inlet and outlet flanges, and exhaust-piping flange connections routed through the submarine engine room
  • Asbestos-fabric exhaust wrap and blanket lagging — asbestos-cloth wrap and asbestos-blanket lagging on hot exhaust piping between the FM engine, turbocharger, and the submarine muffler / snorkel exhaust routing
  • Asbestos-packing at engine service connections — cooling-water, lube-oil, and fuel-line packing at flange joints in the engine-room installation

Fairbanks Morse Model 38 submarine engines were routinely scraped, re-gasketed, and lagged during shipboard overhaul at U.S. Navy shipyards (Portsmouth, Mare Island, Pearl Harbor, Philadelphia) and by tender-supported forward overhaul crews. Submarine engineman and machinist mates working inside the confined submarine engine room, and shipyard machinists during pre-1970s Guppy conversions and non-nuclear Barbel-class overhauls, allegedly disturbed asbestos gaskets and lagging as routine maintenance work.

Fairbanks Morse Model 38 opposed-piston Navy submarine main propulsion engines have been named in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation as a product-vector exposure source for U.S. Navy submarine veterans and shipyard workers.

Workers Exposed

  • Navy machinist mates and engineman who scraped, replaced, and re-gasketed the FM Model 38 engine during shipboard overhaul aboard Gato, Balao, Tench, Guppy, and Barbel diesel submarines
  • Shipyard machinists at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and Electric Boat during pre-1970s submarine overhaul and Guppy conversion
  • Submarine engine mechanics on tender-supported forward overhaul aboard AS-class submarine tenders
  • Pipefitters working exhaust-piping flange joints and hot-side lagging in confined submarine engine rooms
  • Insulators installing and stripping asbestos-fabric exhaust wrap and blanket lagging on Model 38 exhaust runs