ALABAMA DRYDOCK & SHIPBUILDING 
Asbestos Exposure

Alabama Drydock was an institution for many years since it was founded in 1916 after the merging of multiple other dry dock companies. Over the years that followed, the newly formed company offered shipping services, shipbuilding, ship repairs, and other maritime-related services.

ADDSCO employed thousands of workers during both world wars, including welders, electricians, engineers, shipbuilders, and many Navy servicemen. World War II grew the shipyard to new heights, and the post-war era was very profitable. Tens of thousands of men and women worked in the shipbuilding efforts.

Alabama Drydock overlooked the effort to construct twenty Liberty ships, as well as over a hundred oil tankers and over 2,000 combat vessels.

In 1988, the shipyard closed and the remains were sold to numerous companies. A long line of personal injury lawsuits forced ADDSCO into financial peril. Lawsuits targeted the shipyard and other asbestos manufacturers. The shipyard eventually re-opened under BAE Systems, and focused on vessel repairs, construction, and conversion.

Alabama Dry Dock was allegedly filled with toxic materials, including boilers, sleeping quarters, pipes, and insulation that was laden with asbestos.

Alabama Drydock workers later developed aggressive forms of cancer and other related diseases. This particular shipyard was no special case, as shipyard workers all over the country and Navy servicemen were at an extremely high risk of asbestos exposure. In the years before OSHA work safety reform, thousands of workers in the shipbuilding industry were in contact with dangerous levels of toxins, and commonly fell ill with occupational lung cancer and mesothelioma.

An industrial heath safety study, published by the Ulster Medical Society, indicates that those working in a shipyard have an asbestosis mortality rate many times higher than other occupations. 

Former ADDSCO Workers have been diagnosed with asbestos-related illnesses that include the following:

• Mesothelioma (a cancer of the tissue surrounding the lungs and other organs)
• Lung cancer
• Asbestosis (scarring of lungs)
• Adenocarcinoma
• Esophageal Cancer
• Colorectal Cancer
• Pulmonary Fibrosis

Joe Lyon is an asbestos lawyer representing plaintiffs nationwide in a wide variety of mesothelioma cancer and asbestosis claims.

Alabama Drydock Asbestos Toxic Exposure

Because ships were often built with toxic insulation in boilers, incinerators, and internal piping, workers were at risk. Engineers, maintenance crews, pipefitters and electricians were at serious risk. 

Asbestos dust built up in the ship holds which led to regular exposure. ADDSCO workers may have unknowingly or even knowingly ingested and inhaled the toxins. 

Up until the mid 1970s, the Navy authorized the use of hundreds of toxic products for shipbuilding. Medical experts were eventually able to see the potential toxicity of the materials and recommended safety changes.