Premises Description

The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard (founded 1801 at Southwark Philadelphia PA; relocated to League Island 1876; closed 1996 after Base Realignment and Closure) was through the 19th and 20th centuries one of the principal U.S. Navy federal shipbuilding and ship-repair facilities — building Navy ships and overhauling the U.S. Atlantic Fleet for nearly two centuries. The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard employed tens of thousands of federal shipyard workers through the WWII, Cold War, and Vietnam-era construction and overhaul programs.

Through the asbestos era Philadelphia Naval Shipyard shipbuilding and overhaul operations used Marinite, Mundet asbestos-cork, Johns-Manville pipe covering, Owens-Corning Kaylo, Pittsburgh Corning Unibestos, and other principal manufacturers’ asbestos products throughout Navy ship construction, overhaul, refit, and repair operations in confined shipboard spaces with limited ventilation.

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard exposed federal shipyard workforce and Navy ratings aboard ships under construction or overhaul to extensive asbestos.

The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard (as a U.S. Navy federal shipyard) is a Premises site addressed under federal-employee asbestos-liability mechanisms including the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) and Navy Radiation Exposure Compensation programs — separate from private-sector shipyard premises defendants covered elsewhere in this AP defendant index.

Workers Exposed

  • Federal shipyard machinists, pipefitters, boilermakers, electricians, insulators at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
  • Navy machinist mates and engineering ratings aboard ships under overhaul at Philadelphia
  • Contractor trade workers dispatched to Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for capital projects

If You Worked at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

If you worked at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard during the asbestos era — as a federal shipyard employee or as a Navy rating aboard a ship at the yard — and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, or another asbestos-related illness, you may have legal rights.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956