Pearl Harbor Shipyard

Situated on the southern shore of the island of Oahu, the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard has long played an important role in defending the West Coast of the United States.  The shipyard is located five miles from Honolulu and just a short drive from famous Waikiki Beach.  It occupies 308.3 acres and boasts 177 buildings, 32 berths, 4 dry docks, and 3.5 million square feet of covered work area.  It employs about 4,300 civilian employees and approximately 700 military personnel.

Established in 1842 as a coaling station, Pearl Harbor officially became a shipyard in 1919.  It quickly became known as “The Gibraltar of the Pacific” thanks to its strategic location.  The navy yard grew little during the Great Depression though real growth and change didn’t come until Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency established the National Industrial Recover Act, which gave the base $10 million for additions.  The funds allowed for the dredging of the channel and harbor in order to meet the increased demands made by a changing fleet. By 1938, the channel widened to 1,000 feet and deepened so that vessels of all kinds, including aircraft carriers, could enter with ease.

On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes staged a major attack on Oahu.  Of 96 warships present at the shipyard, 18 of the major ones were sunk or damaged.  The shipyard workers quickly pitched in to pick up the pieces and rebuild the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet. 

Pearl Harbor Navy Yard's main mission in the early days of the war was to serve as an emergency repair base. Until the Battle of Midway in 1942, Pearl Harbor was considered the Navy's front line of defense. During the last 18 months of the war, the shipyard worked on 5,554 ships, about 250 per month.

After World War II, shipyard facilities were reduced, though Pearl Harbor did see increased activity through the Korean and Vietnam Wars.   Currently, the shipyard’s primary mission is providing regional maintenance to both surface ships and submarines, including overhauling, repairing, converting, alteration, refurbishing, de-fueling, refueling, and decommissioning of Navy vessels.

During the decades that ships were repaired and rehabilitated by both military and civilian workers at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, thousands of employees were exposed to asbestos-containing products.  Welders, electricians, iron workers, steel workers, plumbers, boilermen, insulators, and many others may have inhaled dangerous fibers caused by asbestos that was damaged in the shipbuilding or re-building process, especially prior to the asbestos warnings of the mid-1970s

Did you or a loved one work at Pearl Harbor Shipyard?  Have you or someone you know been diagnosed with mesothelioma because of your work there?  Mesothelioma is a serious, aggressive cancer that can alter your life and the lives of those who depend on you.  Take a moment to order our free Mesothelioma Information Kit for more details on the disease, its treatment, and your legal rights as a meso victim.