Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
-
[1]Naval History and Heritage Command, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), 'Twin Falls' [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Full entry text; live URL returned HTTP 404 on 2026-09-24, verified via Wayback Machine capture https://web.archive.org/web/20240616095504/https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/twin-falls.html (captured 2024-06-16)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Twin Falls Victory was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MCV hull 167) on 27 December 1944 at Portland, Oregon, by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corp.; launched 6 February 1945, sponsored by Mrs. J. B. Pfietor; and delivered to Pope & Talbot, Inc., of Portland, the first of several companies to operate her under contract with the War Shipping Administration. By April 1958 she was out of service, laid up with the National Defense Reserve Fleet on the James River, Virginia. On 1 July 1964 she was acquired by the Military Sea Transportation Service to become a range instrumentation ship assigned to missile tracking duty on the Air Force's Eastern Test Range in the Atlantic Ocean; renamed Twin Falls, designated AGM-11, and operated by a civil service crew, she served as a mobile tracking platform recording data on missiles and satellites out of range of land-based tracking stations. In October 1969 the Air Force determined she was no longer necessary to its mission; placed out of service early in 1970, she was slated for disposal. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 September 1972, and she was transferred, via the Department of Commerce, to New York City on 2 November to serve as a training facility for that city's Food and Maritime Trade High School.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1944-1972
- Limitations
- Establishes identity, construction, WSA/NDRF period, MSTS acquisition and AGM-11 designation, Eastern Test Range service, and 1972 strike/transfer. Does not mention a T-AGS-37 designation or any survey-ship role, does not name the NYC training ship, and contains no asbestos, insulation, or materials information; supports no asbestos claim. Live NHHC URL is dead (link rot, consistent with prior batches); canonical live page not re-located.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-twin-falls-01
-
[2]U.S. Maritime Administration, ShipHistory database - TWIN FALLS (T-AGM-11), Ship History Detail 4961 [marad_nrc]
- Locator
- ShipHistory Detail 4961, vessel specification table and milestone table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- MARAD ShipHistory database record 'TWIN FALLS (T-AGM-11)': Official Number 247388; year built 1945; builder Oregon Shipbuilding Company; MARAD type VC2-S-AP3; general type General Cargo / Break Bulk; fate 'Returned - U.S.'. Milestone table records an Entry/Acquisition event dated 5/22/1970 with content 'ex-TWIN FALLS VICT[ORY]', consistent with her return from Eastern Test Range instrumentation duty into government maritime custody ahead of the 1972 transfer to New York City. No digitized status-card document or historical narrative is attached to this record.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1945-1970
- Limitations
- Authoritative for identity (Official No. 247388 ties this record to the JOHN BROWN II record, ev-usns-twin-falls-03) and the 1970 custody milestone. No status card, image, or document was available to open for this entry ('No documents for this vessel'); contains no asbestos, condition, or materials information and supports no asbestos claim. Ship-length field on this record (436.5 ft) differs from DANFS (455 ft) and from the JOHN BROWN II MARAD record (455 ft) - see gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-twin-falls-02
-
[3]U.S. Maritime Administration, ShipHistory database - JOHN BROWN II, Ship History Detail 2533 [marad_nrc]
- Locator
- ShipHistory Detail 2533, vessel specification table and milestone table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- A separate MARAD ShipHistory database record, 'JOHN BROWN II', shares the identical Official Number (247388), year built (1945), builder (Oregon Shipbuilding Company), and MARAD type (VC2-S-AP3) as the TWIN FALLS (T-AGM-11) record, confirming it is the same hull under its third name. Its milestone table records a Disposition and Withdrawal event both dated 11/6/1972 with content 'ex-TWIN FALLS'. The record's Mission field lists World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War era tags. Fate is recorded as 'Returned - U.S.'. This record documents the hull's renaming to SS John W. Brown II for its 1972-1982 New York City training-ship role referenced in the DANFS entry (ev-usns-twin-falls-01).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1945-1972
- Limitations
- IMPORTANT DISAMBIGUATION: 'JOHN BROWN II' / 'SS John W. Brown II' in this record is this hull (ex-Twin Falls Victory / ex-USNS Twin Falls), NOT the preserved Liberty ship SS John W. Brown (EC2-S-C1, MCV-312) already documented in this database as 'ss-john-w-brown'. The two vessels are unrelated hulls of different Maritime Commission ship types; the name overlap is a coincidence of the NYC schoolship program reusing a similar name for its second training vessel. This record contains no asbestos, condition, or materials information; the Disposition/Withdrawal date (11/6/1972) is one to four days later than DANFS's stated 2 November 1972 transfer date - both are carried, not reconciled, as a minor date discrepancy (see gaps). No status-card document was available to open for this entry.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-twin-falls-03
-
[4]Batch-9602 research note: comparison of DANFS 'Twin Falls' entry and MARAD ShipHistory Detail 4961/2533 against secondary tertiary-source compilations asserting a T-AGS-37 designation [other_primary]
- Locator
- See search_ledger rows sl-usns-twin-falls-06 and sl-usns-twin-falls-07
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A T-AGS-37 designation and a claim that the Navy recalled the ship on 26 April 1971 'for possible use as a survey ship' appear in secondary tertiary-source compilations, which themselves describe the AGS-37 redesignation as speculative ('presumably this was when she was redesignated T-AGS-37'), citing only the same MARAD status-card record that is titled 'Twin Falls (T-AGM-11)' throughout. No AGS-37 designation, survey-ship role, or 26 April 1971 recall appears in the DANFS entry (ev-usns-twin-falls-01) or in either MARAD ShipHistory record consulted for this batch (ev-usns-twin-falls-02, -03). The AGS-37 designation is carried here as a documented-elsewhere alternate identity for cross-database consolidation only, per this batch's task instructions, and is NOT treated as a verified redesignation.
- Verification
- disputed
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1971-1972
- Limitations
- This row documents a designation discrepancy, not an asbestos finding. It does not establish that AGS-37 is correct, incorrect, or that any survey-ship role was ever carried out; it records that no primary source located in this research corroborates the redesignation, and flags the claim as disputed rather than silently adopting or silently dropping it.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-twin-falls-04
-
[5]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Abstract and article, AJIM 11(3):359-373
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical study documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during World War II, the era and Maritime Commission emergency-shipbuilding program under which this VC2-S-AP3 Victory ship was constructed (Oregon Shipbuilding Corp., 1944-45), and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization aboard merchant-type hulls generally.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article published 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and merchant/naval ship crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel, her builder-specific practices, or her later instrumentation/training-ship conversions, and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-twin-falls-05
-
[6]Batch-9602 search ledger (this record): DANFS 'Twin Falls' entry; MARAD ShipHistory Detail 4961 and 2533; CourtListener name/hull searches; comparison against the Explore Baltimore Heritage photo-caption claim (excluded, see limitations_note) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-usns-twin-falls-01 through sl-usns-twin-falls-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record was located for this hull under any of her three names (Twin Falls Victory, USNS Twin Falls/AGM-11, or SS John W. Brown II) or either hull-number designation: no survey, abatement contract, regulatory disclosure, or docketed case was found in the DANFS entry, either MARAD ShipHistory record, or CourtListener searches performed for this batch (see search_ledger). A widely-repeated web claim that the ship 'was scrapped in 1983 due to the presence of asbestos' traces to a single non-official source - a historical-society photo-caption page - and is directly contradicted by the verified MARAD/DANFS record showing the ship served as the training ship John W. Brown II for roughly a decade (1972-1982) rather than being scrapped instead of serving; this claim is excluded from the record as unreliable.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 2026-09-24
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1945 Victory-type hull that remained in continuous government/institutional service into the 1980s is era-consistent with retained asbestos-containing materials. Does not establish presence or absence; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility. The excluded 'scrapped due to asbestos' claim (Explore Baltimore Heritage, explore.baltimoreheritage.org/items/show/558, accessed 2026-09-24) is named here specifically so it is not silently rediscovered and treated as new evidence in a future batch.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-twin-falls-06
-
[7]NARA Guide to Federal Records: RG 178 (US Maritime Commission), RG 248 (War Shipping Administration), RG 341 (Headquarters USAF) [other_primary]
- Locator
- RG 178 Construction Division; https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/248.html ; https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/341.html
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival lead (not retrieved - requires research-room or reproduction order; no spend authorized): NARA RG 178 (Records of the U.S. Maritime Commission) - Construction Division records and Pacific Coast/Portland-area contract files may hold Oregon Shipbuilding Corp. hull 167 construction/outfitting specifications; RG 248 (War Shipping Administration) holds vessel acquisition/operation files for WSA-operated hulls including early Pope & Talbot operation; RG 341 (Records of Headquarters United States Air Force) may hold Eastern Test Range/Missile Test Project files covering the 1964 conversion to AGM-11 instrumentation configuration, but no finding aid specific to this hull's instrumentation-era conversion or outfitting was identified within the research budget for this batch.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1944-1972 records
- Limitations
- Record-group mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for hull 167/Official No. 247388 (under any of her three names) is unknown until surveyed in person. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-usns-twin-falls-07