Western Shipyard and Mesothelioma

The Western Shipyard in San Francisco was also known as the shipyard of the Western Pipe and Steel Company (WPS). Located at San Pedro Bay, the Western Shipyard made and repaired many types of commercial and military vessels during both World Wars and the years between and after the wars.

Many types of Vessels

The ships built by Western Shipyard workers included icebreakers, destroyer escorts, cutters, cargo ships, LSMs (landing ships, medium), and dump scows. U.S. Navy grants enabled the expansion of the shipbuilding sites from one shipyard to two, with additional side-launching building ways, making the Western Shipyard a very busy place during WWII.

By the 1970s, the work of the Shipyard was winding down, and in 1983 the shipyard was sold to a commercial developer. Little physical evidence of the site as a shipyard remains. However, the people who worked at the Western Shipyard over the first two-thirds of the 20th century may now be experiencing symptoms of serious illnesses from the time they spent there ─ illnesses caused by asbestos exposure.

Asbestos Exposure at the Shipyard

Asbestos exposure was a very real hazard at shipyards because of the extensive use of asbestos as a fireproofing and insulating material aboard ships. The men and women whose job it was to install, repair, or replace the many types of asbestos-containing components of ships may have been subjected to toxic levels of asbestos on a daily basis, for months or years at a time.

Sometimes shipyard workers could see the clouds of asbestos dust, made of millions of tiny fibers of asbestos floating weightless in the air. Most times, however, the asbestos fibers were not seen, even though they were still present and could easily be inhaled by unaware workers.

If You Worked at the Western Shipyard

Many people who worked at or lived near shipyards have been diagnosed with asbestos-caused diseases such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer. Contact us for more information about the epidemic of asbestos diseases among shipyard workers.