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Did you work with Anchor Packing Navy-grade compressed asbestos sheet gasket stock (marine-service compressed asbestos sheet, MIL-spec bulk stock)? According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, it allegedly contained asbestos. Here is what it was, who was exposed, and who is responsible. Anchor Packing Navy-grade compressed asbestos sheet gasket stock (marine-service compressed asbestos sheet, MIL-spec bulk stock), sold from the 1940s until the 1970s. Anchor Packing Company allegedly supplied Navy-grade compressed asbestos sheet gasket stock to U.S. Navy shipyards and shipboard supply for fabrication of shipboard steam, feedwater, and auxiliary flange gaskets across the American fleet. Compressed asbestos sheet (CAS) gasket stock — chrysotile fiber loaded into elastomer binder — allegedly supplied by Anchor Packing Company for U.S. Navy shipboard service under MIL-spec bulk-stock procurement. Machinist's mates, hull technicians, and shipyard machinists allegedly cut individual gaskets to flange geometry with knife or die, dressed the edges, and installed them at steam, feedwater, fuel, and auxiliary joints — generating airborne chrysotile fibers during cutting and during scraping of vitrified residue during subsequent overhauls. Workers allegedly exposed around this product included Machinist's Mates, Boiler Tenders, Hull Technicians, and Shipyard Machinists. Asbestos claims are brought against the companies that made the products. If you worked with or around Anchor Packing Navy-grade compressed asbestos sheet gasket stock (marine-service compressed asbestos sheet, MIL-spec bulk stock) and were later diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease, you may have a legal claim against the manufacturer. This is educational information from an independent publisher — not a law firm — and is not legal advice.
Product Description
Anchor Packing Company (Garlock affiliate) allegedly supplied compressed asbestos sheet (CAS) gasket stock to U.S. Navy shipyards, Navy tender ships, and shipboard supply chains through the mid-twentieth century. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Anchor Navy-grade compressed asbestos sheet stock was cut, fitted, and installed at shipboard steam-system, feedwater, fuel-oil, and auxiliary-system flanges throughout the fleet.
Bulk compressed asbestos sheet was supplied to Navy stock in standardized thicknesses and grades. Aboard ship and in shipyard gasket shops, workers laid the sheet stock over the flange, traced or die-cut the gasket profile, and dressed the edges. Cutting the compressed sheet with a knife, shears, or hand die released chrysotile fibers from the freshly-exposed edge of the material. During subsequent overhauls, the used gasket vitrified onto the mating flange had to be scraped free — again generating respirable fiber concentrations at the flange face.
Workers Exposed
- Machinist’s mates (MM) cutting and installing shipboard gaskets on turbines, pumps, valves, and heat exchangers.
- Boiler tenders (BT) cutting and installing boiler-front, manway, handhole, and steam-drum gaskets.
- Hull technicians (HT) working on fuel-oil, potable-water, and firemain flange joints.
- Shipyard machinists running Navy-yard and private-yard gasket shops during availabilities and construction.
- Pipefitters (UA) making up and breaking down piping joints at every flanged interface aboard ship.
Bystanders in the gasket-cutting shop, boiler room, or engine room breathed the fibers released during cutting and scraping operations.