Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
-
[1]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), 'Ajax IV (AR-6)' - HyperWar mirror of Office of the Chief of Naval Operations / Naval History Division text [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS AR-6 full entry (ibiblio.org HyperWar mirror of NHHC text)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Laid down 7 May 1941 at San Pedro, CA by Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp.; launched 22 August 1942; commissioned 30 October 1943. WWII repair service across the Pacific: installed radar/sound/AA equipment on small craft at Pearl Harbor; survived an oil fire in her blacksmith shop (8 January 1944); repair work at Funafuti, Makin, Majuro; set up advance repair base at Eniwetok performing extensive jobs on 19 cruisers and 9 battleships; temporary repairs alongside torpedoed USS Canberra (CA-70) at Ulithi. Vietnam service at Vung Tau, Subic Bay, Sasebo, Yokosuka; regunned four 5-inch mounts on USS Boston (CAG-1) in seven days (1968); NASSCO overhaul 21 September 1978 - 21 July 1979; Diego Garcia 1980 servicing 31 ships; decommissioned 31 December 1986; earned 4 Korean War battle stars and 5 Vietnam campaign stars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1941-1986
- Population
- Ship's company; crews of repaired vessels alongside
- Limitations
- Authoritative service history; contains no asbestos, insulation, or hazardous-material information. The documented repair workload and blacksmith shop are ship-specific operational facts, not an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ajax-ar6-01
-
[2]NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive, USS Ajax (AR-6) - specification block and chronology [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource page 09/25/2506, Specifications block and chronology
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Specification block: 2 Allis-Chalmers geared steam turbines; 4 Babcock & Wilcox 3-drum boilers, 400 psi / 720 deg F; double Falk main reduction gears; 6 turbo-drive 750 kW ship's service generators; 11,000 shp; twin screws; complement 54 officers / 1,067 enlisted. Chronology: decommissioned 31 December 1986 at San Diego; laid up Pacific Reserve Fleet; struck 16 May 1989, hulk towed to Port Hueneme; NISMF Bremerton 13 July 1996; sold 23 May 1997 to ISL, Brownsville, TX for $127,067; scrapping completed 15 December 1997.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1941-1997
- Population
- Ship's company ~1,121 per spec block
- Limitations
- Volunteer-compiled archival page quoting Navy sources; consistent with DANFS where they overlap except commissioning date (NavSource '3 October 1943' vs DANFS '30 October 1943' - DANFS adopted; see gaps). Spec data are equipment description only - no asbestos content stated or implied.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ajax-ar6-02
-
[3]MARAD Vessel History Database, AJAX (AR-6) detail record [marad_nrc]
- Locator
- vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov ShipHistory Detail 81
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- MARAD records entry of this hull to the National Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, and its sale for scrap in 1997 - corroborating the end-of-life custody path documented by NavSource.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1996-1997
- Limitations
- MARAD milestone table is terse; it corroborates custody dates but does not document shipboard conditions or hazardous materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ajax-ar6-03
-
[4]United States v. Stone (Navy court-martial opinion) [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener API phrase-match 'USS Ajax' (cluster URL not retained; PDF retrieval failed)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener phrase-match confirms 'USS Ajax' occurs in the opinion text of this Navy court-martial case. Classified as other litigation: a military justice case referencing this hull, not an asbestos case.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- Opinion date per CourtListener metadata
- Population
- Accused/crew member named in case
- Limitations
- Full opinion PDF could not be retrieved (HTTP 403 / non-PDF response on mirror links); the ship-name occurrence is verified by API phrase match but case posture details are unverified. No asbestos allegation indicated in metadata.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ajax-ar6-04
-
[5]Corn JK, Starr J. 'Historical perspective on asbestos: policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding.' Am J Ind Med 12(4):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Am J Ind Med 12(4):359-373 (1987), DOI 10.1002/ajim.4700120402
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical study documenting that WWII-era U.S. shipyards extensively installed asbestos-containing insulation, lagging, and gaskets in naval construction - the era in which this hull was built (1941-43). Repair ships carried industrial shop spaces (this ship's blacksmith shop is documented by DANFS) whose work outputs were asbestos-relevant era materials.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1941-1945 (study scope)
- Population
- WWII-era shipyard and repair-ship workers (class context)
- Limitations
- Era-level scholarship; does not name this hull or class and does not establish that any specific material aboard this ship contained asbestos. The shop/repair function is ship-specific per DANFS, but the asbestos-material inference remains era-level, not ship-proven.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ajax-ar6-05
-
[6]Batch-19 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC via HyperWar mirror; NavSource 2506; MARAD detail 81; CourtListener opinion search by ship name and hull number [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-ajax-ar6-01 through sl-uss-ajax-ar6-06
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, or asbestos litigation naming USS Ajax (AR-6) was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener exact-name search returned one unrelated court-martial opinion; hull-number asbestos queries returned string collisions only (see search_ledger).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2026-09-18
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard. A 1943-built repair ship with a documented blacksmith shop is an archetypal asbestos-relevant platform, but ship-level asbestos documentation was not located. 1997 scrapping would have been subject to hazmat handling; no abatement documentation located. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ajax-ar6-06