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Did you work with Westinghouse Marine steam turbine compressed asbestos sheet gaskets? According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, it allegedly contained asbestos. Here is what it was, who was exposed, and who is responsible. Westinghouse Marine steam turbine compressed asbestos sheet gaskets, made by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, sold from the 1940s until the 1970s. Westinghouse Marine allegedly furnished shipboard steam turbines whose casing flanges, steam chests, and gland connections were sealed with compressed asbestos sheet gaskets across the U.S. Navy fleet and American merchant marine. Compressed asbestos sheet gaskets (chrysotile-elastomer binder) allegedly installed at Westinghouse Marine main-propulsion and auxiliary turbine casing horizontal-split flanges, steam-chest joints, gland connections, and exhaust-nozzle interfaces on Navy and merchant marine steam plants. Machinist's mates, shipyard machinists, and hull maintenance crews allegedly scraped hardened gasket residue off mating surfaces and cut fresh asbestos sheet during casing openings and overhaul cycles. Workers allegedly exposed around this product included Machinist's Mates, Shipyard Machinists, Hull Technicians, and Pipefitters. Asbestos claims are brought against the companies that made the products. If you worked with or around Westinghouse Marine steam turbine compressed asbestos sheet gaskets 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
Westinghouse Electric’s marine division allegedly supplied main-propulsion and auxiliary steam turbines to the U.S. Navy and to American merchant shipbuilders across the mid-twentieth century. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Westinghouse Marine turbines were assembled and serviced with compressed asbestos sheet gaskets at every high-pressure joint — including the casing horizontal-split, steam-chest interfaces, gland-seal housings, and exhaust-nozzle flanges.
Compressed asbestos sheet (CAS) gaskets were cut to size from bulk stock, dressed to the flange geometry, and torqued between the mating surfaces. Under service temperature and pressure, the gasket material vitrified onto the flange faces. Every overhaul required workers to scrape the hardened, embrittled asbestos residue free of the mating surface — a mechanical scraping operation that generated respirable asbestos fiber concentrations in the immediate breathing zone of anyone bent over the flange.
Workers Exposed
- Machinist’s mates (MM) performing shipboard gland repacks, casing openings, and steam-chest work on Westinghouse Marine turbines.
- Shipyard machinists performing Navy-yard and private-yard depot-level overhauls of Westinghouse Marine turbines during ship availabilities and inactivations.
- Hull technicians (HT) cutting adjacent lagging and structure for access.
- Pipefitters (UA) breaking steam supply and exhaust lines at turbine flange interfaces before and after casing work.
- Millwrights aligning turbine casings and reduction-gear couplings, and re-gasketing associated interfaces.
Bystander exposures in the propulsion or auxiliary space were routine — engine-room ventilation carried released fibers throughout the shared machinery envelope.
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If You Worked at Westinghouse Marine
If you or a family member worked at Westinghouse Marine and were exposed to asbestos-containing materials at this facility — and were diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, or another asbestos-related disease — you may have a legal claim. Time-sensitive filing deadlines apply.
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