Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
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[1]DANFS, Aaron Ward II (DD-483), NHHC (Robert J. Cressman; published/updated 21 June 2022) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Canonical URL https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/aaron-ward-dd-483-ii.html - Wayback capture 2024-12-10; specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 11 February 1941 at Kearny, N.J., by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; launched 22 November 1941, sponsored by Miss Hilda Ward; commissioned 4 March 1942, Cmdr. Orville F. Gregor in command; shakedown Casco Bay and post-shakedown availability at the New York Navy Yard; Pacific service from 20 May 1942; at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal 13 November 1942 took nine direct hits - 15 dead, 57 wounded; permanent repairs at Pearl Harbor (arrived 20 December 1942, rejoined fleet 6 February 1943); sunk 7 April 1943 by dive-bomber attack while covering LST-449 (one bomb in the engine room plus devastating near-misses; 20 dead, 59 wounded, 7 missing); sank stern-first at 2135 in 40 fathoms 600 yards from shoal water near Tinete Point despite salvage efforts by Ortolan (ASR-5) and Vireo (ATO-144). Specifications block: displacement 1,630; length 348'3"; beam 36'1"; draft 17'5" max; speed 35 knots; complement 276; class Gleaves.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1941-1943
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1941-42; crew 1942-43 (DANFS design complement 276)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The official text contains two known errors: it opens 'The second Aaron Ward (DD-183)' - a typo for DD-483 - and credits 'four battle stars' when DD-483 earned three (the fourth belonging to DM-34, per the award-manual correction annotated by destroyerhistory.org and MaritimeQuest). Live NHHC URL returned 404 to automated fetch on 2026-09-27; text verified via the December 2024 Wayback capture of the canonical page (cited) and verbatim mirrors at destroyerhistory.org and MaritimeQuest.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dd483-01
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[2]NHHC Online Library of Selected Images, 'USN Ships - USS Aaron Ward (DD-483), 1942-1943' (Naval Historical Center photo page; verbatim transcription at HyperWar/ibiblio) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHHC Online Library photo page for DD-483 (ibiblio HyperWar mirror), wreck paragraph + photo NH 97810 caption
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Navy-history photo page for this hull documents the loss and the wreck: 'Aaron Ward's wreck was discovered in some 240 feet of water during the middle 1990s. Extensively explored by divers since then, she is upright, with her bow and stern seriously distorted by impact with the sea floor. Otherwise, however, the old destroyer is in remarkably good condition, and still shows many signs of damage received in her last fight.' Page also carries Naval Historical Center photo NH 97810 (TF 18 in Tulagi Harbor, 7 April 1943) and a service summary matching DANFS.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-04-07; mid-1990s discovery
- Population
- Technical wreck divers (post-1994); crew lost with the ship (1943)
- Limitations
- Documents wreck location depth, attitude, and general condition only; contains no materials, asbestos, or fiber-survey information. Wreck condition is a photographer/diver-observed summary, not an engineering or hazmat survey.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dd483-02
-
[3]Archae-Historia, 'Solomon Islands November 2014 Expedition' report (first-person record of the wreck-finding team; reunion of discoverers Brian Bailey and Ewan Stevenson) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archaehistoria.org expedition log, site entry 5 (USS Aaron Ward DD-483, 29 November 2014 dive)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The discovery team's own expedition record states: 'USS Aaron Ward (DD-483). 29 November 2014 - Discovered by sonar September 1994 by Brian Bailey, Ian Gardiner and Ewan Stevenson. First divers: Brian Bailey and Ian Gardiner September 1994.' The 2014 expedition dived and archaeologically recorded the wreck among 29 WWII sites examined in 27 days.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1994-09 (discovery); 2014-11 (archaeological recording)
- Population
- Wreck-finding/survey team; technical divers
- Limitations
- First-person expedition report by the discovering team; establishes discovery date (September 1994), discoverers, and that the wreck is a dived/surveyed site. Contains no materials or asbestos information. Secondary summaries give 4 September 1994 as the location date and 25 September 1994 as the first dive - the team's own account gives month precision only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dd483-03
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[4]NavSource Naval History, Destroyer Photo Index DD-483 (machinery line: '50,000 SHP; Westinghouse Geared Turbines, 2 screws'; building data) + Atlas shipyard dataset, Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (Kearny) record incl. 1944 Owens-Illinois industrial health survey [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DD-483 page (Wayback 2024-12-10 capture), 'As Built' + 'Machinery' + 'Operational and Building Data' lines; shipyards.json record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' (ev-federal-kearny-ihs-1944)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era inference: a Gleaves-class ('Bristol' repeat group) destroyer built February 1941-March 1942 with a four-boiler superheated steam plant and geared turbines would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation, boiler and turbine lagging, steam-line lagging, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing. Builder Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (Kearny) is a tier-2 Atlas yard record documenting a contemporaneous Owens-Illinois Industrial Health Survey of the yard (30 August-2 September 1944) recording asbestos pipe-covering products (Johns-Manville Superex; Owens-Illinois Kaylo) in use during WWII destroyer construction; NARA RG19 'General Information Books' per-vessel material specifications are the archival lead for hull-level specs.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1941-1943 (construction and service); 1944 (yard survey)
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1941-42; crew 1942-43
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The 1944 yard survey post-dates this hull's 1941-42 construction by two-plus years; it documents yard product use in the same wartime program, not this ship's bill of materials. No insulation survey of the wreck exists or is feasible at ~240 ft working depth; nothing here quantifies material or establishes any individual's exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dd483-04
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[5]'History of USS Aaron Ward (DD-483),' two-page typed history, Office of Naval Records and History, Ships' Histories Section, Navy Department (1943-45 era), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, E. Andrew Wilde Jr. Papers, item 0677-051-b1-fj [other_primary]
- Locator
- ECU Digital Collections item 36373; PDF https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/encore/ncgre000/00000037/00036373/00036373.pdf
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A digitized official Navy typescript history of this hull survives: two pages produced by the Office of Naval Records and History (predecessor of NHHC's history function), cataloged in the Wilde papers at ECU alongside histories of Walke, Seminole, Duncan, Colhoun, and DeHaven - the same Guadalcanal-loss cohort. The visible first paragraph covers the Third Battle of Savo Island ('nine direct hits, four of them from major caliber projectiles... blew apart her director, range finder, radar antennae, searchlights, telephone cables, radar room, and even sheared the foremast off').
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1945 (document date approximated by repository)
- Limitations
- Image-scan only - no text layer; body not machine-readable, so only the catalog description and the first-paragraph snippet visible in the search index are relied on. Content parallels DANFS (wartime Ships' Histories Section write-ups fed the DANFS entry); no materials or asbestos content expected. Cited as an archival lead, not as independent corroboration of any carried fact.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dd483-05
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[6]Batch-3465 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS (live 404; Wayback + mirrors used); NHHC Online Library photo page; NavSource; ECU/Wilde typescript; CourtListener exact-name and hull-number queries; Atlas shipyards.json yard records [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-aaron-ward-dd483-01 through sl-uss-aaron-ward-dd483-11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: the hull sank in action 7 April 1943 and was never scrapped, converted, or museum-held, so no ACM survey, abatement contract, or hazmat disclosure exists or was feasible after loss; the wreck at ~240 ft is dived but not materially surveyed. CourtListener opinion searches '"USS Aaron Ward"', '"Aaron Ward" asbestos', and '"DD-483"' returned zero hits; name-collision discipline applied - three Navy hulls bore the name (DD-132, DD-483, DD-773/DM-34), and any post-1943 exposure window would attach to DM-34, not this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a destroyer sunk with her 1943 fit intact retains era materials in the wreck. The opinion-index sweep is complete (zero hits); the RECAP docket-index expansion was deferred under a congested fleet-paced API window (sl-09). Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dd483-06