I see this in the news often when old ships retiring or being scrapped comes up. Why are ships so full of toxic / asbestos material, compared to other typical industrial things?
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If you’re referencing the CNN highlight of the Brazilian aircraft carrier *Sao Paulo,* a lot of it had to do with the fact that she’s 60 years old. She was commissioned in 1963 (she used to be the French aircraft carrier *Foch*) and asbestos was used *extensively* between the 1940s and 1970s (the US banned it’s use in 1977) before we knew how dangerous is was. Asbestos makes a *really* good fire retardant, and being fireproof in houses and ships is a good thing.
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