Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]DANFS, Albacore (AGSS-569), 'Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships' (1991) Vol. 1-Part A, pp.127-129 (verbatim transcription; live NHHC page returned 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS service narrative and spec block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: construction authorized 25 November 1950; laid down 15 March 1952 at Portsmouth (N.H.) Naval Shipyard; launched 1 August 1953, sponsored by Mrs. J. E. Jowers (widow of Chief Motor Machinist's Mate Arthur L. Stanton, lost with SS-218); commissioned 6 December 1953, Lt. Comdr. Kenneth C. Gummerson. Career of experimental cycles: 1955-56 stern renewal placing propeller aft of control surfaces; 1956-57 engine conversion; early-1958 overhaul emphasizing sound reduction (Aquaplas evaluation; bow planes removed October 1958); major overhaul/conversion November 1960-August 1961 ('X'-shaped stern, 10 dive brakes, new bow, new sonars, auxiliary rudder); fourth major conversion begun 7 December 1962, completed March 1965 (concentric contra-rotating propellers, silver-zinc battery, larger main motor, BQS/BQR sonars, emergency recovery system, new MBT blow system); 1966-67 battery/propeller-spacing work; January-April 1968 propulsion modification; reduced operating status 30 September 1968; February 1970-April 1971 drydock overhaul for Project SURPASS (cancelled after repeated diesel-engine failures). Decommissioned 9 December 1972, laid up at Philadelphia; stricken 1 May 1980; towed to Portsmouth late April 1984; dedicated as a memorial 1985.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1950-1985
- Population
- PNSY construction and overhaul trades (1952-1972); crew (1953-1972)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; no asbestos or material content. Yard-period asbestos disturbance is era inference, not a per-hull record. Live NHHC DANFS page returned 404; verbatim 1991 DANFS transcription (hazegray/losthistory) used. The navysite.de transcription of the same entry shows 'commissioned 5 December 1953' and 'decommissioned 1 September 1972' - transcription conflicts resolved in favor of the 1991 verbatim text and NavSource (6 December 1953 / 9 December 1972); logged in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-albacore-agss569-01
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[2]National Park Service, National Historic Landmark nomination/listing, USS Albacore, NRHP/NHL 89001077 [nps]
- Locator
- NPS NHL asset 89001077 (nomination text + NRIS asset detail)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Albacore was designated a National Historic Landmark on 11 April 1989 (NRIS 89001077, published 4/11/1989). The nomination describes her as the experimental, unarmed, diesel-electric submarine that is the feature exhibit of the Port of Portsmouth Maritime Museum on the Piscataqua River shoreline - in a permanent dry berth, accessible at deck level through her pressure hull, maintained by the Portsmouth Submarine Memorial Association as she appeared after her last rebuilding; constructed of welded low-carbon STS steel to the 'bodies of revolution' hull form (203.1 ft x 27.1 ft), her propulsion machinery compartment housing two 'pancake' diesel generators and two large electric motors.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1989
- Population
- Museum visitors and maintenance staff (contemporary)
- Limitations
- Designation documents significance and a condition description, not fiber content - no asbestos statement was located in the retrievable nomination excerpts. The nomination asset serves as PDF binary; text was recovered via search-extracted excerpts, not full extraction. Does not establish exposure for any individual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-albacore-agss569-02
-
[3]Albacore Park / Portsmouth Submarine & Maritime Association, official museum site - 'The history of the USS Albacore (AGSS-569)' and 'Building and Changing Albacore' pages [museum_official]
- Locator
- ussalbacore.org history and building/changing pages
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Museum-of-record timeline: decommissioned 1972 and placed in reserve at the Inactive Ship Facility, Philadelphia; in 1982 Portsmouth City Council member Bill Keefe began the effort to return her; towed from Philadelphia back to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard two years later (DANFS: late April 1984); beginning May 1985 she was maneuvered through a dismantled railroad bridge and a cutout section of four-lane highway; settled on a concrete cradle at Albacore Park 3 October 1985; grand public opening 30 August 1986; NHL 1989, ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and Historic Welded Structure 2000; Submarine Hall of Fame May 2005.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1982-2005
- Population
- Museum visitors and staff (1986-present)
- Limitations
- Official museum site, used for the museum-era timeline. The site's history page states the NHL designation as 'April 11th, 1986' - a typo conflicting with NPS NRIS (4/11/1989) and the museum's own building-history page (1989); the NPS date is used and the conflict is logged in gaps. No asbestos or material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-albacore-agss569-03
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[4]ASME, Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark brochure, USS Albacore (AGSS-569), landmark #209, designated May 13, 2000, Portsmouth NH [other_primary]
- Locator
- ASME landmark brochure #209 (PDF); corroborated by museum building-history page
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- ASME designated Albacore its 209th Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark on 13 May 2000 - 'the first Navy-designed vessel with a true submarine hull form... the result of years of extensive model testing'; the brochure records her nineteen years of test service and five phase conversions, and that equipment developed and tested aboard her was fitted on subsequent U.S. Navy submarines. Also a Historic Welded Structure (2000) and Submarine Hall of Fame inductee (May 2005).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2000; 2005
- Population
- Museum visitors and staff (contemporary)
- Limitations
- Engineering-significance documentation; no asbestos or material characterization. ASME brochure retrieved as PDF binary; text via search-extracted excerpts. Does not establish exposure for any individual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-albacore-agss569-04
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[5]Era inference built on: DANFS spec block (diesel-electric auxiliary submarine, no armament); DANFS yard-period narrative (all major rebuilds at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, 1952-1971); shipyard-exposure-map documented asbestos product list for portsmouth-naval-shipyard (thermal insulation; asbestos cement; pipe covering; millboard; gaskets; seals; packing; block insulation; asbestos cloth; friction materials; Kaylo insulation) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS spec block + yard-period narrative; shipyards.json product list for portsmouth-naval-shipyard
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-electric experimental submarine built 1952-53 and repeatedly rebuilt at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard through 1972 sits inside the Navy's peak asbestos-use era (substitution did not begin until the early 1970s per GAO). Era-standard applications aboard a conventional submarine of this period included thermal insulation on diesel exhaust and muffler systems, machinery-space insulation, gaskets, packing, and block/millboard insulation - all product categories independently documented at the yard level for PNSY. This hull had no steam plant and no reactor: the asbestos-relevant systems are diesel generators, exhaust, and auxiliaries, not boiler rooms or secondary steam.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1952-1972; 1984-present
- Population
- PNSY construction/overhaul trades (1952-1972); crew (1953-1972); museum/preservation workers
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey or material list located for AGSS-569, and her experimental configuration changed repeatedly (insulation content per phase undocumented). Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity; current material condition of the preserved museum hull undocumented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-albacore-agss569-05
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[6]Kase v. Metalclad Insulation Corp., Cal. Ct. App. (4th Dist.) 2021 (CourtListener opinions 4324658, 4332654) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion, specification-history discussion (SUBSAFE/MIL-I-24244)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- A docketed asbestos personal-injury opinion recounts that after USS Thresher's 1963 loss the Navy created the SUBSAFE program, which issued procurement specification MIL-I-24244 covering asbestos-containing insulation for submarines - court-documented evidence that asbestos-containing insulation was specified in the submarine-construction and overhaul regime of the era covering Albacore's post-1963 rebuilds at Portsmouth (1962-65 fourth conversion, 1966-67 battery/propeller work, 1968 propulsion modification, 1970-71 SURPASS overhaul).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2021 (opinion); regime described 1963-forward
- Population
- Navy submarine construction/maintenance trades, SUBSAFE era (1963-forward)
- Limitations
- Albacore is not named in the opinion - the case concerns a different claimant aboard different vessels; the citation documents the era submarine-insulation spec regime only. Whether MIL-I-24244-covered material was installed on this hull in her post-1963 availabilities is not established by this source. Does not establish exposure, causation, quantity, or eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-albacore-agss569-06
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[7]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s - covering Albacore's entire build-and-rebuild history at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (1952-1971).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-albacore-agss569-07
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[8]CourtListener RECAP (public web search, 2026-09-18): Gitto v. A.W. Chesterton Co., No. 1:07-cv-04771 (S.D.N.Y., NOS 368 asbestos personal injury - transferred to E.D. Pa. as MDL-875, 2:07-cv-73417), docket entry 11 attachment 4 (51-page affidavit exhibit filed with Vickers, Inc.'s memorandum in opposition to remand); In re: Asbestos Products Liability Litigation (No. VI), MDL-875 (E.D. Pa.), document 9297 attachment 1 (NOTICE OF POTENTIAL TAG-ALONG exhibit, filed 2013-04-16); Gitto merits memorandum, Robreno J., 2010-08-19 (paed.uscourts.gov, Gitto_NY.pdf) [court_record]
- Locator
- Gitto v. A.W. Chesterton, 1:07-cv-04771 (S.D.N.Y.), ECF 11-4; In re APL MDL-875 (E.D. Pa.), ECF 9297-1; Gitto memorandum 2:07-cv-73417, ECF 96 (2010-08-19)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- The hull designator 'AGSS-569' appears inside two asbestos-litigation exhibits: (1) Gitto v. A.W. Chesterton - a 51-page affidavit exhibit attached to a remand-opposition memorandum in an NOS 368 asbestos personal-injury case brought by a Brooklyn Navy Yard shipfitter/hull-machinery inspector (1951-1996 employment); (2) an MDL-875 notice-of-potential-tag-along exhibit (April 2013). Both are pleading/discovery-stage exhibits in asbestos dockets. The exhibit texts were not retrievable (Cloudflare-blocked), so whether 'AGSS-569' names the vessel as an alleged exposure site or appears in a vessel/work-history list is unverified. The only published Gitto memorandum (Robreno J., Aug. 2010, product identification) does not mention Albacore; plaintiff's described shipboard work was aboard USS Independence at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1951-1996 (alleged exposure era); 2007-2013 (litigation)
- Population
- Salvatore Gitto (Brooklyn Navy Yard shipfitter, 1951-1996); MDL-875 tag-along plaintiffs
- Limitations
- Docket-exhibit string matches only - unadjudicated, unverified as an exposure-site reference; the matched documents are exhibits, not opinions, and no court has found exposure aboard this hull. Gitto's alleged exposure was at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (New York Naval Shipyard), not Portsmouth - the string's context is unresolved. Classified down to archival_lead per litigation-stage discipline; upgrading requires retrieving exhibit 11-4 and the MDL-875 attachment.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-albacore-agss569-08
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[9]Batch-97 search ledger (this record): DANFS verbatim transcription; NPS NRIS/nomination; official museum site; ASME brochure; CourtListener exact-name and hull-number searches (opinions + RECAP); GAO product page; NVR; NavSource cross-check [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-albacore-agss569-01 through -13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or adjudicated asbestos case naming USS Albacore (AGSS-569) was found. CourtListener opinion searches 'USS Albacore' and 'AGSS-569' returned zero hits. The single 'USS Albacore' RECAP hit (Stolzenburg v. Flikr LLC, D.N.H. 2024, NOS 245 product liability) is an incidental name collision, not asbestos. The two 'AGSS-569' exhibit-string matches (Gitto; MDL-875 tag-along) are pleading-stage mentions with unverified exposure-site context - a lead, not a finding (ev-08). Law-firm claims that she was 'built using asbestos-containing materials throughout' (mesothelioma.net, nemerofflaw.com) trace to marketing sites only and are excluded per source rules.
- 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. The preserved hull's interior material condition is not publicly characterized; museum maintenance/abatement records, if any exist, are not public. The broad 'Albacore' RECAP sweep and the CourtListener API were rate-limit-blocked (see ledger sl-06) - additional exhibit-level mentions cannot be ruled out. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-albacore-agss569-09