Navy Veterans and Asbestos: Mesothelioma and Lung Cancer Claims in New York

Let’s answer the question that stops most Navy veterans from ever picking up the phone: no, you are not suing the Navy. Asbestos claims are brought against the manufacturers who supplied asbestos-containing products to the fleet and concealed the danger — not against the government, and not against the service you are proud of. If you served aboard ship or in the shipyards from the 1930s into the early 1980s and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, or asbestosis, you may be entitled to significant compensation — without touching your VA benefits.

The Law Offices of Rudolph F.X. Migliore, P.C. has represented asbestos victims for more than three decades, recovering compensation in over 1,200 asbestos cases and more than 100 lung cancer cases alongside a national network of asbestos co-counsel. We are based in Commack, Long Island, and represent veterans and their families throughout New York State. The evaluation is free — and if you smoked, you are not automatically disqualified.

Why Navy Service Carried the Heaviest Asbestos Exposure

Fire at sea is the oldest fear in the Navy, and for half a century asbestos was the answer. From the 1930s into the early 1980s, asbestos-containing products were built into virtually every Navy vessel — insulation on pipes, boilers, and turbines; gaskets and packing in pumps and valves; fireproofing and deck materials running from the engine spaces to the berthing compartments. The exposure was heaviest below decks, where sailors worked on and around asbestos-insulated machinery in confined, poorly ventilated spaces — and it intensified during shipyard overhaul periods, when old insulation was ripped out and replaced in clouds of dust.

The ratings that asbestos litigation has seen again and again: boiler technicians, machinist’s mates, enginemen, pipefitters, shipfitters, hull maintenance technicians, damage controlmen, and electrician’s mates — along with the civilian tradespeople who built and overhauled the ships in yards like the Brooklyn Navy Yard. But no rating was immune: asbestos dust traveled the ship, and veterans from many ratings have been diagnosed. Because asbestos disease has a latency period that often runs 20 to 50 years, sailors who served in the 1960s and 1970s are being diagnosed right now.

You Are Not Suing the Navy

This deserves its own section because it is the single biggest misconception. Under a legal rule known as the Feres doctrine, service members generally cannot sue the federal government for service-related injuries — and asbestos claims do not try to. The defendants in these cases are the companies that manufactured and supplied the asbestos products used aboard the fleet: the insulation, gasket, packing, and equipment makers who knew the dangers for decades and concealed them. Holding those companies accountable is not an act against the Navy — if anything, it is the opposite. The manufacturers misled the Navy too.

VA Benefits, Lawsuits, and Trust Funds: How the Three Work Together

Veterans typically have three separate compensation pathways, and they are not mutually exclusive:

VA disability benefits. Asbestos-related diseases connected to service can support VA disability compensation, along with VA health care. Under the VA rating schedule, service-connected mesothelioma and other active respiratory cancers are generally rated at 100 percent while the disease is active and during the applicable post-treatment period — subject to VA rules and a later mandatory re-evaluation. The VA assesses the likelihood of asbestos exposure based on a service member’s rating and ship assignment; exposure is typically established through service records, a medical nexus opinion linking the disease to service, and that exposure evaluation.

Civil lawsuits against the product manufacturers, which as a general rule proceed independently of VA benefits — pursuing the companies responsible does not mean giving up what you earned in service.

Asbestos bankruptcy trust funds, established by manufacturers that went through bankruptcy and were required to set aside billions of dollars for current and future victims — including veterans.

Most strong cases draw on more than one of these at once. Our role is the civil and trust side — and we coordinate the pieces so the pathways work together rather than against each other.

Long Island and New York Navy Connections

New York’s Navy story is deep: generations of tradespeople built and overhauled warships at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; Long Island’s aerospace plants — Grumman in Bethpage and Calverton — built the Navy’s aircraft for decades; and Long Island remains home to one of the region’s largest veteran communities, anchored by the Northport VA. Wherever in New York you served from or settled, we can represent you — our firm is based in Commack and handles veterans’ asbestos cases statewide with our national co-counsel network.

Veterans, Lung Cancer — and Smoking

Many sailors of that era smoked — cigarettes came with the rations. If you have been diagnosed with lung cancer and assume smoking disqualifies you: it does not automatically disqualify you. Asbestos and tobacco smoke multiply each other’s risk, and a claim turns on whether asbestos exposure contributed to the cancer, not whether it was the only cause. We have successfully represented many clients with significant smoking histories. Here is how that works.

What to Do After a Diagnosis

You do not need your service records, ship names, or product identification in hand to start — that reconstruction is our job, drawing on your DD-214, deck logs and ship records, the VA’s exposure documentation, crewmate testimony, and decades of product-identification evidence developed in asbestos litigation. The first step is a conversation about where you served and what you worked around. Call 631-543-3663 — the evaluation is free, confidential, and carries no obligation. For the broader picture of asbestos exposure across Long Island, see our Long Island asbestos lawyer page; for the medical and legal framework of asbestos lung cancer claims, see lung cancer caused by asbestos.

Frequently Asked Questions: Navy Veterans’ Asbestos Claims

Speak With a New York Asbestos Lawyer About Your Service

Three decades of asbestos litigation, 1,200+ cases, and a free, confidential evaluation for veterans and their families — statewide, from a Long Island firm. Call 631-543-3663 or use the contact form below. There is no fee unless we recover compensation for you.