Kaiser Vancouver Shipyard

Established in 1942, the Kaiser Vancouver Shipyard was one of the most prolific Pacific Coast shipyards in operation during World War II.  The yard was started by industrialist Henry Kaiser, who eventually established seven shipyards on the West Coast.  Previous to the war, Kaiser had been involved in constructing the Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams on the Columbia River.

During the peak time of the war, the three yards in the Vancouver-Portland area employed nearly 100,000 ship workers and support staff.  The Kaiser shipyards, using prefabrication and special construction methods, were able to substantially reduce the time it took to produce ships, producing about one per week. By the time the war ended, the Vancouver yard had constructed more than 140 ships for the United States Navy and Maritime Commission, including Liberty cargo ships, LSTs (tank landing crafts), AP-5 troop transports, C-4 transports, and C-4 cargo ships, along with 50 escort aircraft carriers.

Kaiser was known for taking particularly good care of its workers; building housing projects to house the influx of workers arriving in the area and providing hospitals for the care of shipyard employees, which would later become the Kaiser Permanente Health System, the largest health maintenance company in the United States.  After the war, the shipyard was closed.

Though Kaiser was diligent in protecting its employees, shipyard personnel were nonetheless exposed to toxic materials while on the job, especially during World War II when the dangers of materials such as asbestos were not widely publicized.  Those especially vulnerable were insulators, plumbers, electricians, pipe fitters, and boilermen. 

Furthermore, the rapid building of ships sometimes resulted in less-than-careful work, allowing materials such as asbestos to be damaged in the process.  Damaged asbestos can result in dangerous fibers being released into the air, which are then inhaled by workers.  Asbestos inhalation can cause diseases such as asbestosis or mesothelioma, an aggressive form of lung cancer.

If you were employed at Kaiser Vancouver Shipyard or any of Kaiser’s other yards during World War II and have developed mesothelioma, you’re not alone.  Fellow workers are suffering from the same disease.  If you’d like more information about the disease, its treatment, and your right to financial assistance, order our free Mesothelioma Resource Packet for more details.