Government survey or HHE evidence class; this is not a measure of exposure severity.
Mid-Atlantic Cluster · Kearny, New JerseyFederal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company
Kearny Point, New Jersey · 1917–1948 · U.S. Steel subsidiary · #2 destroyer builder in WWII
Bottom Line Up Front
At its 1943 wartime peak, Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock employed 52,000 workers — the largest single-yard workforce in the AsbestosAtlas dataset — and launched more destroyers than any U.S. yard except Bath Iron Works. An Owens-Illinois industrial health survey conducted August 30–September 2, 1944 documented insulators and pipefitters cutting and fitting asbestos pipe covering (Johns-Manville Superex) in confined shipyard spaces. The survey was later introduced as Owens-Illinois Interrogatory Exhibit #20 in Heathman v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. (Brazoria County, TX, 1990), establishing the document as verified litigation evidence of asbestos product use at Kearny.
Facility Overview
Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was founded July 24, 1917, as a subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation at Kearny Point on the Hackensack River, where it meets Newark Bay. Unlike many yards that closed after World War I, Federal remained operational through the interwar period and the Great Depression, positioning it to become one of the most productive shipbuilding facilities in American history when WWII demand surged.
By 1943, Federal was employing 52,000 workers and building ships faster than any other yard in the world. The company launched four destroyers in a single 50-minute period in May 1942 and set a record of 11 ships launched in 29 days across its Kearny and Port Newark yards in March 1943. Federal built the lead ships of the Fletcher, Allen M. Sumner, and Gearing destroyer classes — approximately 570 vessels were contracted in total.
The yard closed in 1948 after post-war contracts were cancelled. The site at Kearny Point is now the River Terminal Development complex; a monument on the grounds commemorates the workers who built the ships launched there. Federal Shipbuilding is not listed as an EPA Superfund site.
1944 Owens-Illinois Industrial Health Survey
Between August 30 and September 2, 1944 — during Federal Shipbuilding's wartime production peak — Owens-Illinois, Inc. conducted an industrial health survey of the Kearny facility. The survey documented insulator and pipefitter work with asbestos pipe covering (Johns-Manville Superex) and boiler insulation in confined shipyard spaces, and measured dust counts during cutting and fitting operations.
The survey was one of at least 20 U.S. Maritime Commission industrial health surveys conducted at major shipyards between 1942 and 1945. The Federal Shipbuilding survey appears as item #20 in a list of government documents introduced by Owens-Illinois in Dube v. Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc. (D. Maine, 1983) to establish that the U.S. government and Navy recognized asbestos as an occupational health hazard in shipbuilding well before the 1960s.
Key Findings Documented in the Survey
- Insulator and pipefitter work with Johns-Manville Superex asbestos pipe covering in confined spaces
- Dust counts measured during cutting and fitting operations (mppcf units, pre-fiber-count era)
- Boiler insulation work documented alongside pipe covering application
- Survey conducted during wartime peak production — maximum workforce and maximum product throughput
Source Integrity Note — Conflict of Interest
The 1944 survey was conducted by Owens-Illinois, a manufacturer of asbestos-containing insulation products (Kaylo) with a direct commercial interest in the findings. Dust counts were measured in million particles per cubic foot (mppcf) — a pre-fiber-count metric that is not directly comparable to modern fiber/cc standards. The survey documents product use and exposure conditions but was not a worker health outcome study. These limitations are noted in the dataset record; the survey's value as litigation evidence derives from its status as a contemporaneous industry document, not as an epidemiological study.
Litigation Context: Heathman v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. (1990)
The 1944 Federal Shipbuilding survey entered the litigation record as Owens-Illinois Interrogatory Exhibit #20 in Heathman v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., No. 87-C-1934, 23rd Judicial District, Brazoria County, Texas (filed 1990). The case was brought by Tommie L. Heathman and wife Dixie A. Heathman against Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation and related defendants.
In its supplemental answers to interrogatories, Owens-Illinois disclosed that it had been aware of the threshold limit value (TLV) for asbestos dust since 1948 or before, and acknowledged expertise in manufacturing Kaylo from 1948 to 1958. The interrogatory responses — including the exhibit list of 24 Maritime Commission surveys — were filed pursuant to court order after Owens-Illinois's objections to discovery were overruled.
The same survey list had previously been introduced in Dube v. Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc. (D. Maine, 1983), where Third-Party Plaintiffs used the Maritime Commission surveys to establish that the U.S. government recognized asbestos as a substantial occupational health risk to shipyard workers well before the 1960s. The Federal Shipbuilding survey is item #20 in that list: "Industrial Health Survey of the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, New Jersey, at 14 (August 30–31, September 1–2, 1944)."
Significance for Attorneys
The ToxicDocs record establishes that Owens-Illinois possessed contemporaneous documentation of asbestos dust conditions at Federal Shipbuilding while simultaneously manufacturing Kaylo pipe insulation for sale to shipyards. This dual role — surveyor and product supplier — is directly relevant to failure-to-warn and fraudulent concealment theories in asbestos product liability claims involving Kaylo or Superex at Kearny.
Owens-Illinois and the Kaylo Product Line
Owens-Illinois manufactured Kaylo — a calcium silicate pipe and boiler insulation containing 13–20% chrysotile/amosite — from 1944 to 1958, when it sold the product line to Owens-Corning Fiberglas. Kaylo was one of the most widely used pipe insulation products in U.S. shipyards during the postwar period, replacing Johns-Manville Superex as the primary pipe covering at many facilities including Federal Shipbuilding.
The 1944 industrial health survey was conducted the same year Owens-Illinois began commercial Kaylo production. The survey's documentation of asbestos dust conditions at Federal Shipbuilding — a major naval contractor — is therefore contemporaneous with Owens-Illinois's entry into the asbestos insulation market. In its 1990 interrogatory responses, Owens-Illinois acknowledged awareness of the asbestos TLV since "1948 or before" while simultaneously stating it could not determine whether it had reviewed health hazard information prior to 1945.
Asbestos Products Documented at Federal Shipbuilding
The 1944 OI survey and related litigation records document the following asbestos-containing products at the Kearny facility. Verification status reflects the strength of the primary source for each product.
| Product | Manufacturer | Period | Status | Primary Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superex pipe covering | Johns-Manville Corp. | 1940–1948 | Verified | OI IHS 1944 (ToxicDocs) |
| Kaylo pipe/boiler insulation | Owens-Illinois, Inc. | 1948–1958 | Verified | OI IHS 1944 + OI Interrogatory Exhibit #20 |
| Monokote fireproofing | W.R. Grace & Co. | 1950s–1970s | Probable | W.R. Grace Asbestos Trust (site confirmed) |
| Asbestos gaskets | Garlock, Inc. | 1930–1975 | Probable | Garlock Settlement Trust (site confirmed) |
"Verified" = named in a primary government or court document. "Probable" = confirmed at site through trust fund claim records; not yet named in a retrieved primary document.
Mid-Atlantic Cluster: Federal Shipbuilding vs. Brooklyn Navy Yard
Federal Shipbuilding and the Brooklyn Navy Yard (New York Navy Yard) were the two dominant shipbuilding facilities in the Port of New York and New Jersey during World War II, operating simultaneously on opposite sides of Newark Bay and the Upper Bay.
| Factor | Federal Shipbuilding (Kearny, NJ) | Brooklyn Navy Yard (NYNSY) |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | U.S. Steel Corp. (commercial) | U.S. Navy (federal) |
| Facility evidence class | Facility evidence class — Tier 2 of 3 · Gov. Survey / HHE | Facility evidence class — Tier 3 of 3 · Environmental / Historical |
| Peak workforce | 52,000 (1943) | ~70,000 (1944) |
| Primary source | OI Industrial Health Survey (1944) | Weinstein MDL opinion (1991) |
| Asbestos documentation | Industrial health survey — product use confirmed | Court opinion — general shipyard exposure |
| Superfund status | Not listed | Not listed |
| Closure | 1948 (post-WWII) | 1966 (Navy decision) |
Further Reading
Further reading: shipyard asbestos exposure — WikiMesothelioma.com
About the Authors
Paul Danziger
Founding Partner, Danziger & De Llano, LLP
Paul Danziger has represented mesothelioma patients and their families for over 25 years. He holds a J.D. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and has secured hundreds of millions in verdicts and settlements for shipyard workers, veterans, and industrial tradespeople exposed to asbestos. His practice focuses exclusively on asbestos-related disease litigation.
Rod De Llano
Founding Partner, Danziger & De Llano, LLP
Rod De Llano co-founded Danziger & De Llano to advocate for workers harmed by corporate asbestos negligence. With a career spanning over two decades in toxic tort litigation, he has developed deep expertise in shipyard exposure patterns, product identification, and occupational disease causation. He represents clients nationwide in mesothelioma and asbestosis claims.
Danziger & De Llano, LLP funds the Asbestos Atlas as a public-interest research project. The dataset is published under CC BY 4.0 and sourced exclusively from primary records (PubMed, NIOSH, EPA, NARA). No law-firm marketing material is used as a data source. See Methodology for the full circularity firewall protocol.