Article Tools
Hear this text
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Facebook
Wikio
Asbestos Exposure in Aircraft Carriers
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power great distances without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations. They have evolved from wooden vessels, used to deploy balloons, into nuclear powered warships that carry dozens of fixed and rotary wing aircraft.World War II saw the first large-scale use and further refinement of the aircraft carrier, spawning several types. Escort aircraft carriers, such as USS Bogue, were built only during World War II. Although some were purpose-built, most were converted from merchant ships as a stop-gap measure to provide air support for convoys and amphibious invasions. Light aircraft carriers, such as USS Independence, represented a larger, more "militarized" version of the escort carrier concept. Although the light carriers usually carried the same size air groups as escort carriers, they had the advantage of higher speed as they had been converted from cruisers under construction.Due to its excellent heat-resistant and fireproofing propertie asbestos was used in aircraft carriers.The products which contained asbestos were situated near and in engine rooms.Asbestos was used for insulation.
