Hunters Point Naval Shipyard

Hunters Point Naval Shipyard is a former U.S. Navy shipyard located in the southeastern part of San Francisco, California. Hunters Point was originally built as a commercial shipyard in 1870. By 1920, Hunters Point was believed to have the largest dry docks in the world, measuring over 1000 feet in length.

The U.S. Navy acquired Hunters Point in November 1941, just days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The shipyard was renamed Hunters Point Naval Shipyard (HPNSY), and played a major role in the war effort during World War II as a hub of Navy shipbuilding and repair. The workers at Hunters Point built and repaired hundreds of Liberty Ships between 1942 and 1945. After the war, the shipyard became a major center for the servicing and testing of Navy submarines.

Hunters Point, which was also known as Treasure Island Naval Station-Hunters Point Annex, continued to serve as a major center for the building, repair, and servicing of Navy vessels from World War II through 1976. Until 1969, the shipyard was also the home of the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, the Navy's largest nuclear research facility. The Navy ceased most operations at Hunters Point in 1976, and leased most of the shipyard to a private company for the next ten years. Hunters Point was listed for closing in 1991.

Asbestos at Hunters Point

Like every other Navy shipyard during this era, the shipbuilding and repair facilities at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard contained a wide variety of asbestos materials. Most surface vessels from the 1940s through the 1970s were steam powered, and required literally tons of asbestos insulation on the piping and equipment. The same was true for the steam systems in nuclear-powered submarines. Hundreds of thousands of shipyard workers and Navy seamen were exposed to toxic asbestos dust during the building and repair of Navy vessels at Hunters Point.

Anyone who served or worked at Hunters Point, you may be at a high risk for mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or other asbestos-related diseases. If you believe you may have been exposed to asbestos at Hunters Point, we urge you to fill out the form above for a free book with valuable information on mesothelioma and asbestos.