Mesothelioma and asbestos exposure in San Diego

The Navy has shaped San Diego for more than a century. Ships based and repaired at Naval Base San Diego and Naval Air Station North Island carried large amounts of asbestos insulation on boilers, turbines and piping. Sailors in engine rooms and repair crews in the shipyards worked closely with these materials. Commercial shipyards along the bay also built and repaired Navy and commercial vessels. Shipboard maintenance continued at sea as well as in port, so sailors in engineering jobs could be exposed throughout their service. Civilian shipyard workers in many trades shared compartments with insulators and pipefitters, so dust from one crew's work often reached others nearby. That shared exposure is common in Navy towns.

San Diego also had a significant aircraft industry, with large plants building military and commercial aircraft. Older plants and some heat-related materials contained asbestos. Beyond the bases and factories, construction for a growing military population added asbestos fireproofing, insulation and flooring to homes and public buildings. Many San Diego families include veterans and civilian workers with overlapping exposure histories. Union halls in San Diego sent tradespeople to base projects, shipyards and aircraft plants, so one career could include many sites. Service records, civilian personnel files and union documents can help show where someone worked. Those records are often key to identifying which asbestos products were involved.