The Boiler Tech Manifesto: Navy Veteran Advocacy

03/25/2026

03/22/2026

It is too bad we do not have a museum ship that can be fired off and have V A reviewers & Congress experience what we did.

03/15/2026

Taken from Wikipedia

Navy Special Fuel Oil - a Bunker Fuel

Health effects
Because of the low quality of bunker fuel, when burnt it is especially harmful to the health of humans, causing serious illnesses and deaths. Prior to the IMO's 2020 sulfur cap, shipping industry air pollution was estimated to cause around 400,000 premature deaths each year, from lung cancer and cardiovascular disease, as well as 14 million childhood asthma cases each year.[4]

03/14/2026

In 1997 on the USS Kitty Hawk CV-63 health hazards are monitored. As you know, back in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s we were plastered with health hazards and yet the VA denies our health issues.

03/13/2026

Headline: The Navy’s "Smoking Gun" from 1956—Did any of you ever see a respirator?

I just dug up a page from the 1956 Military Fuel Operations Hand Book, and it’s a real eye-opener for those of us who served in the "Black Gang."

Check out Section 3 on "Hygienic Aspects." As far back as '56, the Navy officially stated that hydrocarbon vapors are toxic even if they aren't at explosive levels. It explicitly says that if vapors exceed 500 PPM, we MUST be protected by an "air-supplied respirator."

Think back to our time in the firerooms . Between sounding the tanks, changing burners, and the constant "burp" of vapors scrapping tubes, we were living in those fumes.

The Reality Check:

The Manual said: Wear a respirator.

The Fleet said: Get back to work.

I don't know about you, but the only "protection" I ever saw was a forced draft blower and a JP-5-soaked rag to wipe the NSFO off my arms.

03/10/2026

How is this for a joke!!

03/10/2026

The way I see it, we have to blast Congress.

03/09/2026

Fireside Cleaning – Then vs Now

The first photo shows how fireside cleaning was done when the Navy burned Navy Special Fuel Oil (NSFO) in the 1940s, 50s, 60s and early 70s.

That soot covering those sailors is boiler ash from heavy residual fuel oil. It contained contaminants like vanadium, nickel, sodium, and sulfur that built up on the tubes and had to be scraped and brushed off by hand.

Look closely.

There are no respirators, no protective suits, no ventilation systems — nothing. Boiler techs climbed inside these boilers and breathed that soot while cleaning the firesides.

At the time, the Navy was studying the ash because it corroded boiler tubes. Engineering papers talked about vanadium destroying metal.

But almost no one asked what breathing it was doing to the men cleaning it.

The second photo shows how the job is done from the mid-1970s on, after the Navy moved away from NSFO and began using more refined fuels.

Now look at the difference.

Full protective suits.
Respirators.
Gloves.
Controlled work environment.

Same job.

Two completely different levels of protection.

The tubes were finally protected from vanadium corrosion.

It just took a few more decades for anyone to start worrying about the boiler techs.

03/09/2026

The Navy’s Dual Knowledge: Metal vs. MenIn 1963, the Navy knew vanadium ash was a "metallurgical disaster" for boiler tubes—but they also knew it was a human disaster for the men cleaning them. While engineering manuals focused on how vanadium ate through steel, the medical community was documenting how it ate through lungs.The Evidence the Navy Had:The "Green Tongue": By 1967, Navy medical studies (Zenz & Berg) proved that "green tongue" wasn't just a badge of hard work—it was a clinical sign of systemic vanadium poisoning.Microscopic Toxins: The Navy knew ash particles were as small as 0.5 $\mu m$. At that size, they bypass the throat and settle deep in the air sacs of the lungs (alveoli), where they can’t be coughed out.The BUMED Pivot: By the late 1960s, the Bureau of Medicine (BUMED) finally shifted soot from a "nuisance" to a specific toxin, mandating high-efficiency respirators after years of using useless gauze masks.The Surgeon General’s Warning: Reports from 1967–1968 showed a massive spike in "Chest Diseases" specifically for Boiler Technicians (BTs) and Machinist's Mates (MMs).The Bottom Line:The Navy had the science. They knew the "cocktail" of vanadium and sulfuric acid was scouring human cells just as fast as it scoured gas turbine blades. For many BTs, the damage was done long before the safety manuals were updated.