Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
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[1]U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, USNS Silas Bent (T-AGS-26) Introduction Brochure, 11 February 1966 (digitized transcription via NavSource) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAVOCEANO pub. dated 1966-02-11, full-text reproduction at NavSource (also via Wayback capture 2025-01-21)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The Naval Oceanographic Office's official introduction brochure (11 Feb 1966) describes USNS Silas Bent (T-AGS 26) as the first of a new class of oceanographic survey ships built for the U.S. Navy, operated by the Military Sea Transportation Service under NAVOCEANO technical control, with accommodations for 44 crew and 34 scientists. Documented features: ice-strengthened hull; anti-roll tanks; 350-SHP trainable and retractable bow propulsion unit for station-keeping; a gas turbine powering the main motor or bow thruster during ultra-quiet operations; the prototype Shipboard Survey System built around an AN/UYK computer; laboratories (electronic, chemical, biological, geological), meteorological room, and fifteen winches for over-the-side gear. Characteristics: 285' x 48' x 15', 2,590 tons full load, diesel-electric 3,000 SHP single screw. Mission: systematic multi-parameter surveys supporting Navy ASW/USW operations; secondary mission an environmental model of the ocean.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1966
- Population
- MSTS civil-service crew (44) + embarked scientific party (34)
- Limitations
- Official contemporaneous Navy publication naming this hull; establishes identity, configuration, and mission only - contains no asbestos or materials information whatsoever and supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-silas-bent-01
-
[2]DANFS, Silas Bent (AGS-26) - updated by Robert J. Cressman, 11 November 2016 (live NHHC page 404 on 2026-09-19; verbatim text verified via Wayback capture 2024-12-10) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry: namesake biography, specifications block (displacement 2,580 full load; complement 44), service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS records Silas Bent (AGS-26) laid down 2 March 1964 at Lorain, Ohio, by the American Shipbuilding Co.; launched 16 May 1964, sponsored by Miss Nancy M. McKinley and Mrs. Jeffrey R. Grandy; delivered to the Military Sea Transportation Service in July 1965. She was manned by a Civil Service crew and operated by the Military Sealift Command under the technical control of the Naval Oceanographic Office, Suitland, MD. Shakedown winter 1965-66, then oceanographic research primarily in the northern Pacific between Alaska and Japan; May 1968 located an ammunition-laden Liberty ship sunk in the North Pacific; 1972 visited Japan for the second Ocean Development Conference at Tokyo; mid-September 1974 operating in waters off Kodiak, Alaska. Transferred to the Government of Turkey under the Security Assistance Program 29 September 1999; stricken from the Naval Vessel Register 28 October 1999. Namesake: Silas Bent (1820-1887), U.S. Navy officer and early hydrographer/oceanographer who surveyed Japanese waters during the Perry expedition and resigned 25 April 1861.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1964-1999
- Population
- Civil-service mariner crew; embarked NAVOCEANO scientists
- Limitations
- Establishes identity, construction, service narrative, and disposal dates; contains no asbestos or insulation-material statement. Live NHHC URL returned 404 on 2026-09-19; content verified from the Wayback capture of the official page.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-silas-bent-02
-
[3]Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy, TAGS 26 Class Ship Descriptions - USNS Bent ship page (official .navy.mil site, Wayback capture 1998-04-20) [other_primary]
- Locator
- TAGS 26 class ship-description page, USNS Bent entry
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The Oceanographer of the Navy's official ship-description page for USNS Bent (hull TAGS 26, delivered 1965) lists: length 285', beam 48', draft 20'; displacement 2,600 long tons; propulsion diesel-electric, 3,600 SHP, single screw, fixed pitch; cruising speed 13 knots; endurance 12,000 nautical miles; crew 48; scientific party 26; lab space 3,560 sq ft; deck space 2,855 sq ft; 2 vans.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1998 (page capture); reflects late-service configuration
- Population
- MSC crew (48) + scientific party (26), late-service configuration
- Limitations
- Specification sheet only - no asbestos or materials content. Crew figures (48 crew + 26 scientific party) differ from the 1966 brochure (44 + 34) and DANFS complement (44); figures are carried separately by source, not merged.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-silas-bent-03
-
[4]shipscribe.com, USNS Silas Bent (T-AGS 26) class page - SCB Project No. 226 design history transcribed from Bureau of Ships records, plus NVR-derived construction and disposition tables [other_primary]
- Locator
- AGS 26 class page: design notes (SCB 226), construction and disposition tables
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- SCB design record for this hull: Ship Characteristics Board staff began preliminary characteristics for a ~3,000-ton AGS in the FY 1963 building program in March 1961; designated SCB Project No. 226; initial characteristics for a 2,250-ton surveying ship promulgated 11 July 1961 with M. Rosenblatt & Son as design agent; enlarged by a 26 December 1961 change to ~2,550 tons with MSTS complement of 41 plus scientists after the Hydrographer of the Navy found the smaller design inadequate for 'ocean-wide' survey requirements including TENOC and the national oceanographic program. Construction table (NVR-derived): ordered 23 May 1963, American Shipbuilding Lorain, keel 2 March 1964, launched 16 May 1964, in service 23 July 1965. Disposition table: inactivated/stricken/disposed 28 October 1999, transfer.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1961-1999
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation transcribing official SCB/Bureau of Ships documents and NVR data - faithful in detail but not itself a government publication; underlying BUSHIPS memoranda sit in NARA RG 19 (see archival-lead row). No asbestos or materials content; establishes design and construction history only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-silas-bent-04
-
[5]U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, Oceanographic Cruise Summary - Eastern Gulf of Maine and Continental Margin, AD0836000 (DTIC OAI metadata record) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DTIC citation AD0836000, OAI-PMH metadata record
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DTIC metadata record for a NAVOCEANO cruise report documents a survey by USNS Silas Bent (T-AGS 26) conducted September-October 1966 south of Cape Sable, from the Gulf of Maine to the Sohm Abyssal Plain: six oceanographic stations occupied, continuous seismic profiling (including a flank of Kelvin Seamount overlain by ~1 km of sediment), sand waves observed in the Northeast Channel, and field training plus further evaluation of the ship's Shipboard Oceanographic Survey System (SOSS).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1966-09 to 1966-10
- Population
- Crew + embarked scientists on early survey operations
- Limitations
- Metadata/abstract record only - full text not retrieved (DTIC blocks automated access, HTTP 403). Establishes a documented 1966 cruise naming this hull; contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-silas-bent-05
-
[6]GlobalSecurity.org mirror of the Naval Oceanographic Office / MSC fleet history for TAGS 26 Silas Bent (verbatim reproduction of retired official site content) [reputable_press]
- Locator
- TAGS 26 Silas Bent page, narrative sections (AGS Task Team; Cold War surveys; post-Cold War)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NAVOCEANO/MSC fleet-history narrative for this hull: an 'AGS Task Team' led by Robert Seaton handled outfitting and shakedown; the ship's Texas Instruments-built Shipboard Survey System was 'serial number one' with a submarine-derived AN/UYK computer. During the Cold War she most often surveyed the northern Pacific from the U.S. west coast to Korea and from the Philippine Sea to the Bering Sea, with special-project trips such as Tahiti; in 1986 she entered the Sea of Okhotsk after the USS New Jersey task group's visit and spent about two months surveying alone. Post-Cold War focus shifted to littoral areas (Yellow Sea, East and South China seas, Sea of Japan); she was the first NAVOCEANO survey ship ordered to the Arabian Gulf in the Gulf War era, and reached the Mediterranean late in her career for the crewing-responsibility turnover to Military Sealift Command. Dyn Marine Services of Virginia (DynCorp) managed/operated/maintained the NAVOCEANO survey fleet under contract in the later period.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1965-1999
- Population
- MSC civil-service/contract mariners; NAVOCEANO personnel
- Limitations
- Verbatim mirror of a retired official Navy site hosted on a defense-information site - episode-level detail could not be cross-checked against official cruise documents; carried as fleet-history context, not hull records. The DMS contract-operation statement is fleet-level and does not name this hull individually. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-silas-bent-06
-
[7]Devrim Yaylalı (Turkish naval analyst), Çeşme class auxiliaries page; corroborated by archived turkishnavy.net Çeşme-class page and NavSource TCG Çeşme (A-599) photo record (Bosphorus, 2008); IMO 7738527 [reputable_press]
- Locator
- devrimyaylali.com/auxiliaries (Çeşme class table); web.archive.org turkishnavy.net/arastirmae.htm; navsource.org 09/10/1026.htm photo entries
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Following the 29 September 1999 Security Assistance Program transfer recorded by DANFS, Turkish-side accounts state the hull was physically handed over by the U.S. Navy in Singapore on 28 October 1999. Renamed TCG Çeşme (A-599), commissioned into the Turkish Naval Forces 8 June 2000, and reported in active service as a hydrographic/oceanographic survey ship - photographed on the Bosphorus in 2008 and listed among active Turkish survey vessels (IMO 7738527).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1999-present
- Population
- Turkish naval crew (contemporary)
- Limitations
- Transfer and strike dates are DANFS-verified (ev-usns-silas-bent-02); Turkish-service details rest on reputable analyst and photographic-record sources - no official Turkish Naval Forces publication located. The Singapore handover location appears only in Turkish-side accounts. Continued foreign naval service means no U.S. disposal, shipbreaking, or abatement record would be expected for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-silas-bent-07
-
[8]Selikoff IJ, Lilis R, Levin G, 'Asbestotic radiological abnormalities among United States merchant marine seamen,' British Journal of Industrial Medicine 47(5):292-301 (1990) [other_primary]
- Locator
- OEM/BMJ article page, abstract + Tables 1-4 (department and exposure-onset breakdowns)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed study of 3,324 chest radiographs (1985-87) of long-term U.S. merchant seamen documents 'the wide use of asbestos in ship construction until the late 1970s': 34.8% showed parenchymal or pleural abnormalities (ILO classification), with prevalence greatest among engine-department veterans (42.5%). The authors conclude that many vessels, particularly those built before 1978, contain asbestos materials, and call for engineering controls and medical surveillance. This hull was built in 1964 - inside the documented use era - and was manned by a civil-service mariner crew, the population this literature addresses.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- Radiographs 1985-1987; shipboard asbestos-use era documented through the late 1970s
- Population
- U.S. merchant marine seamen - population analogue for the civil-service crews of USNS hulls
- Limitations
- Population/era-level evidence - the study does not name this vessel and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, individual exposure, or causation. This ship's diesel-electric plant lacks the boiler/steam systems where shipboard asbestos was most concentrated.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-silas-bent-08
-
[9]Bartel v. Alcoa Steamship Co., 805 F.3d 169 (5th Cir. 2015) (consolidated with Nos. 15-30004, 15-30005) [court_record]
- Locator
- 805 F.3d 169, opinion text at ¶5-7 (federal-officer-removal analysis)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Published Fifth Circuit opinion in consolidated Jones Act/general-maritime asbestos actions brought by career merchant mariners, each of whom 'served on at least one United States Naval Ship' - Navy-owned vessels operated by civilian contractors (Mathiasen Tanker Industry, American President Lines, American Overseas Marine - the 'Federal Officer Defendants'). The court addressed removal under the Federal Officer Removal Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1442, and affirmed remand. The opinion documents that asbestos personal-injury claims by civilian mariners aboard the contractor-operated USNS fleet exist in the reported litigation - the same civilian-crewed, Navy-owned operating category this ship belonged to under MSTS/MSC.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 2015 (opinion); plaintiffs' service decades earlier
- Population
- Career U.S. merchant mariners; USNS contract-operator crews
- Limitations
- Appellate ruling on removal jurisdiction - a pleading/posture disposition, not an exposure finding for any vessel. No specific hull is named; USNS vessels are identified only by operator. Documents the litigation landscape for the USNS category generally and says nothing about conditions aboard T-AGS-26. Does not establish or defeat any exposure claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-silas-bent-09
-
[10]Batch-420 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS (live + Wayback); oceanographer.navy.mil (Wayback); NAVOCEANO 1966 brochure (NavSource/Wayback); shipscribe AGS-26; NVR (no archived page); CourtListener API + site index; DTIC AD0836000; OEM/Selikoff; Fifth Circuit Bartel; BGSU HCGL GLMS 75; Turkish-service sources [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-usns-silas-bent-01 through sl-usns-silas-bent-14
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming Silas Bent or T-AGS-26 was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener vessel-name and hull-number searches (site index; API throttled) returned only name collisions. No U.S. shipbreaking/disposal record exists because the hull remains in foreign naval service (see search_ledger).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 2026-09-19
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1964-built hull predating the documented late-1970s decline of shipboard asbestos use is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials having been installed. Continued Turkish naval service means no U.S. disposal/abatement record would be expected. Does not establish presence or absence, does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-silas-bent-10
-
[11]BGSU University Libraries, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes finding aid - American Ship Building Company and Predecessors records (GLMS 75, 1867-1989); NARA Guide to Federal Records RG 19 (Bureau of Ships) / RG 24 (deck logs) [other_primary]
- Locator
- lib.bgsu.edu finding aid GLMS 75; archives.gov Guide to Federal Records RG 19/RG 24
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - research-room or reproduction required; no spend authorized): (1) BGSU HCGL GLMS 75, American Ship Building Company and Predecessors records 1867-1989 (569 cu ft + 60 microfilm reels; naval architectural drawings, specifications, reports, financials) - the builder's archive, where Lorain-yard construction/outfitting specifications for this hull may survive; (2) NARA RG 19 Bureau of Ships records - SCB Project No. 226 design files (the preliminary-design memoranda transcribed at shipscribe originate there); (3) Navy deck logs - 1965-1978-era logs at NARA (RG 24), later logs via Navy deck-log custodial transfer; (4) DTIC AD0836000 and related NAVOCEANO cruise reports - retrievable via DTIC request.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1964-1999 records
- Limitations
- Record-group/collection mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; whether asbestos-specific documents for this hull exist is unknown until surveyed in person. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-silas-bent-11