Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet crew-manus-b-packet.md (18 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS Aaron Ward (third ship of that name)
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-aaron-ward-dm34-pkt-crew-manus-b-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Aaron Ward III (DM-34) (builder, dates, redesignation, service narrative, awards; verbatim transcription courtesy USNHC - live NHHC entry not located online) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, full narrative paragraphs
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: third Aaron Ward; destroyer minelayer converted from an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer hull; laid down as DD-773 on 12 December 1943 at San Pedro, Calif., by the Bethlehem Steel Corp.; launched 5 May 1944, sponsored by Mrs. G. H. Ratliff; redesignated DM-34 on 19 July 1944; commissioned 28 October 1944, Comdr. William H. Sanders, Jr. in command. Shakedown off California; departed San Pedro 9 February 1945 for Pearl Harbor; sailed 5 March to join 5th Fleet at Ulithi; TF 52 to the Ryukyus; arrived off Okinawa 22 March. Supported minesweeping around Kerama Retto and Okinawa (three aircraft); screened gunfire-support heavies from 1 April; Marianas/Guam repairs; patrol off Kerama Retto late April (27-28 April: two planes plus a probable; rescued 12 Pinkney (APH-2) survivors). Radar Picket Station No. 10 from 30 April; massed kamikaze attack of 3 May 1945 left her dead in the water; Shannon (DM-25) towed her to Kerama Retto arriving 4 May; temporary repairs to 11 June; steamed via Ulithi, Guam, Eniwetok, Pearl Harbor, and the Panama Canal to New York, arriving mid-August; decommissioned 28 September 1945 and struck from the Navy list; sold for scrapping July 1946. Earned one battle star and the Presidential Unit Citation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Bethlehem San Pedro construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew (complement 363)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents identity, dates, and service history, not materials or asbestos content. Live NHHC DANFS page for this hull not located (NHHC has digitized Aaron Ward II (DD-483) only); verbatim transcription credited to USNHC cited. Battle-star count: DANFS states one; a compiler's note on the transcription page argues two (a 1953 awards-manual misassignment to DD-483) - carried in gaps, one star asserted per official narrative.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-01
-
[3]NHHC H-Gram 046, Attachment 1, 'USS Aaron Ward (DM-34) - The Ship That Couldn't Be Licked, 3 May 1945,' Samuel J. Cox, Director NHHC, May 2020 (live page 404s; Wayback capture 2025-02-01) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- H-Gram 046 attachment 1 (Wayback capture), narrative and casualty paragraphs; PUC and Navy Cross citation texts
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official NHHC battle analysis for this hull: Robert H. Smith-class destroyer-minelayers were Sumner-class hulls with the ten torpedo tubes and two of six K-guns removed and capacity for up to 80 mines; 2,200 tons, 376 ft, 34 kt, crew 363. On 3 May 1945 on Radar Picket Station No. 10 with Little (DD-803) and four support craft, roughly 18-24 Japanese aircraft (per the PUC text, approximately 25) attacked in ~52 minutes: six kamikaze crashes hit the ship plus bomb hits; every engineering space but the forward engine room flooded; the ship settled with an eight-degree list and five inches of freeboard. Casualties: 19 killed outright, six died of wounds, 16 men and one officer missing - 42 total lost (Lt. (j.g.) Robert N. McKay, USNR, the only officer lost); 50 sailors and four officers seriously wounded. Little and LSM(R)-195 sank in the same action. Shannon (DM-25) towed Aaron Ward to Kerama Retto; Nimitz messaged 'We all admire a ship that can't be licked.' Decommissioned 28 September 1945 and sold for scrap in 1946 without repairs being completed; her 4,000-lb anchor is in a park in Elgin, Illinois. One battle star plus Presidential Unit Citation (text reproduced); CO Cmdr. William H. Sanders awarded the Navy Cross (text reproduced).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Wartime crew 1944-45 (complement 363); 42 lost / 54 seriously wounded on 3 May 1945
- Limitations
- NHHC H-gram documents the action, casualties, and postwar disposition - not materials or asbestos content. Live NHHC URL returns 404 (checked 2026-09-29); Wayback capture of the official page cited. Casualty and hit-count details in this official account supersede secondary retellings.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-02
-
[4]Bureau of Ships, War Damage Report No. 51, 'Destroyer Report: Gunfire, Bomb and Kamikaze Damage, Including Losses in Action, 17 October 1941 to 15 August 1945,' Preliminary Design Section, Navy Department, 25 January 1947 (HyperWar/ibiblio NHC transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- WDR No. 51, Section II summary pages 1-3 (AARON WARD (DM34) damage diagram + remarks; Photos 2-1/2-2)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- Official BuShips technical damage survey for this hull (Section II, p.2): 'The AARON WARD shown was one of the minelayers converted from 692 Class destroyers and should not be confused with DD483 which was sunk in 1943. She was hit... by six Kamikazes and three large bombs, estimated to have been 250 Kg GP. All spaces between bulkheads 72 and 170 flooded to the waterline except for the forward engineroom and certain starboard water tanks. Free surface extended through five major compartments, 1650 tons of water were shipped and GM was reduced to approximately 1 foot positive.' Hit diagram: near-miss crash (engine/propeller against mount 3); Zeke into mount 44 with bomb blowing out the after engineroom side; near-miss crash damaging rigging and No. 1 stack; Val into main deck frame 81 plus near-miss bomb blowing in the forward fireroom side; Val into deckhouse frame 90; plane into after stack with bomb detonating in the after uptakes. Fires controlled after ~2 hours with LCS(L)-83 alongside; arrived Kerama Retto with no freeboard aft, 18-ft draft forward, 5-degree starboard list; after emergency repairs proceeded under her own power to Navy Yard Pearl Harbor on the starboard shaft.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1945-1947
- Population
- Damage-control parties and temporary-repair workers, May-June 1945
- Limitations
- Documents the physical destruction of machinery spaces, stacks, uptakes, and superstructure - the zones where era insulation would have been installed - but records damage and stability, not materials; contains no asbestos or insulation-fiber finding. Confirms the scale of structural disturbance to insulated spaces during the casualty and subsequent repair/scrapping, without characterizing any ACM.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-03
-
[5]NavSource Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, 'Aaron Ward (DM 34) ex-DD-773' (NHHC photo captions NH 83213, NH 62571, NH 62572; National Archives 80-G-330107; command roster; stricken date; PUC text) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net/archives/11/0834.htm - chronology block, specifications block, commanding officers table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull corroborating the official record: laid down 12 December 1943 as DD-773 by Bethlehem Steel Co., San Pedro, CA; launched 5 May 1944; reclassified Light Minelayer DM-34 on 19 July 1944; commissioned 28 October 1944; decommissioned 28 September 1945; struck from the Naval Register 11 October 1945; sold for scrap July 1946. Specifications: 2,380 t light / 3,370 t full; 376'6"; 40'10" beam; 34 kt; complement 363; armament three twin 5"/38 mounts, six twin 40mm, eleven 20mm; propulsion four Babcock & Wilcox boilers, two 60,000-shp General Electric geared turbines, two shafts. Sole commanding officer CDR William Henry Sanders, Jr., USN (28 Oct 1944 - 3 May 1945 listing).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer photo archive hosting official photo captions and register data - not itself a government source; dates agree with DANFS/NHHC. Supplies the stricken date (11 October 1945) that the DANFS narrative leaves as 'struck from the Navy list' after decommissioning. Contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-04
-
[6]NavSource specifications block (Robert H. Smith class / Sumner-hull DM conversion plant: 4 B&W boilers, 2 GE geared turbines, 60,000 shp) + allen-m-sumner-class class profile (class-c worktree: DM-23 through DM-34 completions) + GAO HRD-80-2 program context [other_primary]
- Locator
- Class profile allen-m-sumner-class.class.json (background); NavSource specifications block; GAO HRD-80-2 product page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: a Robert H. Smith-class destroyer minelayer completed October 1944 on an Allen M. Sumner-class hull, powered by four Babcock & Wilcox boilers and two GE geared steam turbines (60,000 shp), falls inside the Navy's documented asbestos era; era-standard applications for this plant configuration were boiler and steam-line lagging, turbine and machinery insulation, flange and valve gaskets, machinery packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings. GAO HRD-80-2 documents extensive Navy shipboard asbestos-insulation use through this era at program level. Builder Bethlehem Steel San Pedro is NOT an Atlas shipyards.json entry - no yard-level record exists to cross-link.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Bethlehem San Pedro construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew Oct 1944 - Sep 1945; 1946 scrapping workers (unidentified yard)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding; does not quantify material aboard this hull or establish any individual's exposure. The hull's 11-month wartime career and 1946 scrapping mean no modernization or documented abatement interval exists in which material could have been disturbed or removed under a documentation regime. NARA RG 19 material-schedule retrieval not performed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-05
-
[7]NARA Special List 44, 'Named Vessels' (RG 24 deck-log holdings list): Aaron Ward (DM-34), logs covering 10/28/1944-9/28/1945 [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov Special List 44, 'Aaron Ward (DM-34) 10/28/1944-9/28/1945' entry; RG 19/RG 24 catalog descriptions
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival lead: NARA's Special List 44 (Named Vessels) enumerates deck logs for USS Aaron Ward (DM-34) spanning her entire commissioned career, 28 October 1944 to 28 September 1945. Deck logs could document engineering-casualty and repair activity relevant to material disturbance; NARA RG 19 (Bureau of Ships) General Information Books and material specifications are the parallel lead for hull-level insulation schedules. BuShips Action Report / CO 'Report of Battle Damage' for the 3 May 1945 action is separately cataloged (typed by Commanding Officer; copy held via USS Cascade (AD-16) records per usnavyresearch.com WDR index).
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Limitations
- Leads only - none retrieved. Special List 44 confirms log custody and coverage dates, not content. No material schedule or insulation specification for this hull is in hand.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-06
-
[8]CourtListener API v4 authenticated searches, 2026-09-29: "USS Aaron Ward" (type=o, type=r), "Aaron Ward" (type=o), "Aaron Ward" asbestos (type=o, type=r), "DM-34" (type=o), "DD-773" (type=o) [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener v4 search results 2026-09-29; search_ledger rows sl-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-10 through sl-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-16
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Litigation sweep for this hull, run 2026-09-29 through the authenticated fleet-paced CourtListener helper. Exact-name query "USS Aaron Ward" returned 3 opinion hits - all verified as name collisions at full-text level: Amazon.com, Inc. v. Comm'r, 148 T.C. No. 8 (Tax Ct. 2017) matched attorney 'Aaron T. Vaughan' plus scattered 'award' tokens; Taitt v. Islamic Republic of Iran (D.D.C. 2023) is the USS Cole bombing damages case, matching 'Aaron Morgan,' 'award,' and 'USS Cole' tokens; Park v. Thompson, 356 F. Supp. 783 (D. Haw. 1973) is a state-prisoner transfer habeas case matching cited 'Goings v. Aaron' plus 'women's ward' tokens - no Aaron Ward vessel existed in 1973. The same query in dockets (type=r) returned 564 loose-BM25 hits; the top 30 were reviewed individually and all are unrelated (plaintiff surnamed Ward, wardens, 'award' fragments) - none maritime, none asbestos on its face. Broad query "Aaron Ward" returned 3,686 opinion hits, all person-name collisions in the top 20 reviewed. "Aaron Ward" asbestos returned 0 opinion hits and 5 docket hits - the only phrase-flagged docket, Ward v. Stucke (S.D. Ohio 3:18-cv-00263, filed 2018), is a Clean Water Act citizen suit in which the plaintiff is a person named Aaron Ward (Darke County, Ohio property dispute; 395 F. Supp. 3d 940), a person-name collision; the other four (Motors Liquidation bankruptcy, James v. City of Rochester, Energy Future Holdings bankruptcy, KServicing Wind Down bankruptcy) are unrelated. Hull-number queries "DM-34" (1,975 hits) and "DD-773" (667 hits) returned only reporter/docket-fragment collisions in the top 25 reviewed each. No qualifying asbestos litigation and no vessel-related litigation naming this hull located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 2026-09-29
- Limitations
- Opinion and RECAP docket indices are not exhaustive - a case could name the vessel only in unindexed pleadings, and loose BM25 ranking means a low-ranking docket could escape the top-30/top-25 review slices; absence of indexed hits is not proof no claimant ever alleged exposure aboard. Three name collisions exist in the name-space itself: Aaron Ward DD-132 (WWI, transferred to UK 1940), Aaron Ward DD-483 (sunk 7 April 1943), and this hull - any future 'Aaron Ward' hit must be hull-disambiguated by service dates (this hull: Oct 1944 - Sep 1945 only).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-07
-
[9]Batch-4588 search ledger (this record): DANFS transcription; NHHC H-046-1 (Wayback); BuShips War Damage Report No. 51; NavSource; NHHC Online Library mirror; NARA Special List 44; NVR; Atlas shipyard dataset; CourtListener exact-name/hull-number/asbestos-qualified sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-01 through sl-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-16
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DM-34: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no material schedule, no museum or preservation hazmat disclosure (the hull was scrapped in 1946 and never entered preservation), and no qualifying litigation. The official record is unusually rich on service history and battle damage (DANFS, NHHC H-046-1, BuShips WDR-51) but contains no asbestos or insulation-material finding for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 2026-09-29
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the hull was built 1943-44 inside the Navy's documented asbestos era and her steam plant is the era's highest-asbestos configuration. This finding does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-aaron-ward-dm34-08