Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]DANFS, Amesbury (DE-66), NHHC ship-history entry by Robert J. Cressman, 28 November 2017 (live page now serves 404; Wayback capture 2023-10-31; verbatim transcription also at hazegray.org/danfs/escorts/de66.htm, DANFS Vol. IA pp. 258-59) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS entry 'Amesbury (DE-66)' 1943-1960, specifications block + service narrative (Wayback capture); hazegray mirror pp. 258-59
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 8 March 1943 at Hingham, Mass., by the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard; launched 6 June 1943 (sponsor Mrs. Janet Kenney Amesbury); commissioned 31 August 1943, Lt. Comdr. Allen B. Adams, Jr. in command. Shakedown Bermuda; post-shakedown availability Boston Navy Yard; Norfolk DE precommissioning training detail to 13 November 1943; TF 69 / TG 21.9 transatlantic convoy escort as CortDiv 19 flagship (four round trips to Londonderry/Lishally and one to Greenock); Normandy assault-area screen and fire support (TF 124 / TG 124.7, 'Mason Dixie' grid) from 6 June 1944; 11 June 1944 assisted mined LST-496 alongside until the LST capsized and sank (all Amesbury sailors recovered uninjured); Fleet Sonar School squadron, Key West, to 20 February 1945; arrived Philadelphia Navy Yard 23 February 1945, redesignated APD-46 that day, conversion to high speed transport through 16 May 1945; San Diego 17 June; Okinawa 4 September 1945 with UDT-12 (11 officers, 81 enlisted) embarked; screened Jinsen (Inchon) anchorage to 15 September; Tientsin landings 25 September-4 October; San Diego 7 November; lay-up Green Cove Springs, Florida Group 16th Fleet; decommissioned in reserve 3 July 1946; stricken from the Naval Vessel Register 1 June 1960; sold to Chet Alexander Marine Salvage of Key West 24 October 1962 - DANFS closes 'she was subsequently scrapped.' One battle star (Normandy).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1943-1962
- Population
- Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard construction trades 1943; wartime crew (DE design complement 186); Philadelphia Navy Yard conversion workforce Feb-May 1945
- Limitations
- DANFS documents identity, dates, and service history - not materials or asbestos content. Its terse 'subsequently scrapped' conflicts with the fuller NOAA record (hull sank under tow and remains a wreck) - NOAA is carried for final disposition and the discrepancy is in gaps. Live NHHC page returns 404; Wayback capture of the canonical page is cited. DANFS prints 'Clark (DD-356)' for the Panama relief assignment; the actual destroyer Clark was DD-361 - hull number omitted from the narrative fields rather than reproduce a source typo.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-amesbury-apd46-01
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[2]NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Maritime Heritage Program expedition page 'Amesbury' (Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary wreck documentation) [other_primary]
- Locator
- sanctuaries.noaa.gov/maritime/expeditions/amesbury.html - site description and history paragraphs
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- NOAA documents this hull's final disposition and present state: the decommissioned vessel was being towed by Chet Alexander Marine Salvage of Key West to a deep-water location to be sunk as an artificial reef; she grounded and a storm broke up her hull before refloating. The site, locally 'Alexander's Wreck,' lies in 25 feet of water five miles west of Key West in two sections 200 yards apart - southern section the bow and port side, northern the stern and starboard; five-inch gun mount, twin 40 mm mounts, collapsed superstructure debris, and Welin davits for four LCVPs remain visible. NOAA also states she was 'one of the 104 destroyer escorts converted to high speed transports' and confirms the APD-46 post-conversion armament.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1962-present
- Population
- Recreational divers (contemporary wreck site)
- Limitations
- Documents wreck location, condition, and sinking circumstance - contains no asbestos information and does not establish what materials remain aboard the hull sections. Confirms the hull was not broken up in a conventional scrapyard (DANFS 'subsequently scrapped' resolves to: sold for scrapping, lost under tow).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-amesbury-apd46-02
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[3]NavSource Naval History, Amphibious Photo Archive: USS Amesbury (APD-46) ex USS Amesbury (DE-66) - build/conversion data, APD specifications block, awards, commanding officer list [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net/archives/10/04/04046.htm - APD specifications block and commanding-officer table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull corroborating DANFS dates and adding post-conversion APD specifications: converted at Philadelphia Navy Yard, redesignated APD-46 23 February 1945; APD complement 12 officers / 192 enlisted plus troop accommodations 12 officers / 150 enlisted; armament one 5"/38 DP mount, three twin 40 mm, six single 20 mm, two depth-charge tracks, four LCVP; propulsion listed as two Combustion Engineering 'D' Express boilers (435 psi, 750 deg F) with two GE turbines in turbo-electric drive, 12,000 shp; awards include China Service Medal (extended) and Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp) for 3 September-21 October 1945; decommissioned Green Cove Springs 3 July 1946; sold 24 October 1962, removed November 1962, 'sank under tow 5 miles off Key West, FL in 25 ft of water.' Commanding officer list: LCDR A. B. Adams Jr. (1943-08-31 to 1944-05-10), LCDR Arthur B. Wilbor (to Nov 1945; DANFS spells the name 'Wilber'), then four short-tenure officers to decommissioning 3 July 1946.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1943-1962
- Population
- Post-conversion crew (~204) plus embarked troops (to ~162) and UDT-12 detachment (92)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-compiled secondary archive used for corroboration and spec detail, not an official record; its boiler attribution (Combustion Engineering) conflicts with the Atlas class profile's Foster Wheeler citation for the Buckley TE block - carried in gaps, not resolved. Contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-amesbury-apd46-03
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[4]DANFS specifications block (Buckley class; 23.5 kt; turbo-electric plant per class records) + Atlas class profile buckley-class.class.json (TE block map: 2 boilers, GE turbo-electric drive, 12,000 shp); builder Bethlehem-Hingham not in Atlas shipyards.json [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block; class-f worktree buckley-class.class.json (background); shipyards.json (yard slug check)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a steam-powered (TE turbo-electric) Buckley-class destroyer escort built March-August 1943 would have carried period-standard asbestos applications - boiler and machinery insulation, steam-line lagging between fireroom and engineroom, valve and flange gaskets, machinery packing, electrical insulation, deck coverings, and winch/windlass brake linings. The documented February-May 1945 Philadelphia Navy Yard conversion to APD-46 (armament rearrangement, troop berthing/messing added, LCVP davits) is the kind of yard period that disturbs insulation; the scope of any insulation work in this hull's conversion is undocumented. Builder Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard (a purpose-built Bethlehem Steel DE yard) is not yet a row in the Atlas shipyards dataset; Philadelphia Navy Yard, site of the documented conversion, is a dataset yard (philadelphia-naval-shipyard).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Bethlehem-Hingham construction trades 1943; Philadelphia Navy Yard conversion workforce 1945; wartime and postwar crew
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder/yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No bill of material, hull survey, or conversion work package was located for this hull; does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-amesbury-apd46-04
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[5]NARA Special List 44 - Named Vessels (vessel logbooks inventory): entry 'Amesbury (DD-66, APD-46)', coverage 9/1/1943-6/30/1945 [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov Special List 44, 'Amesbury' row (alphabetical A entries)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA's published vessel-logbook inventory lists deck logs for 'Amesbury' spanning 1 September 1943 to 30 June 1945 - the ship's own contemporaneous operational record covering commissioning through the APD conversion period. Deck logs are a primary-source lead for exact yard periods, locations, and underway time, though they do not record materials.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Ship's crew 1943-1945 (log coverage window)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only - logs not retrieved or reviewed; they document operations, not asbestos content. NARA's entry prints the hull number as 'DD-66' (a listing typo for DE-66); date range noted as listed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-amesbury-apd46-05
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[6]CourtListener API v4 sweeps, 2026-09-25/26: opinion index "USS Amesbury" = 0 hits; opinion index "APD-46" = 0 hits; opinion index "Amesbury" + asbestos = 1 hit (name collision); broad "Amesbury" + vessel-term sweep = 811 hits, sampled page all name collisions; "DE-66" (o) and "Amesbury" (r docket) blocked by fleet pacing - see search_ledger [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-amesbury-apd46-06 through sl-uss-amesbury-apd46-10
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener litigation sweep for this hull: exact-name "USS Amesbury" returns zero in the opinion index - no published opinion names the ship. "APD-46" returns zero. "Amesbury" asbestos returns a single hit, Tronox Inc. v. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (In re Tronox Inc.), 549 B.R. 21 (S.D.N.Y. 2016) - a name collision: 'Amesbury' there is the Massachusetts industrial site in an environmental bankruptcy, not the vessel. A broad vessel-term sweep (811 opinion hits) returns person- and town-name collisions only in the sampled results page (City of Amesbury municipal litigation, Amesbury surnames, Amesbury Apartments - none vessel-related). "DE-66" opinion and "Amesbury" RECAP docket sweeps were blocked by fleet-wide pacing exhaustion after six metered attempts each; logged in the search_ledger rather than assumed negative.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 2026-09-25
- Limitations
- CourtListener coverage is not exhaustive of all courts or eras, and deferred queries are logged honestly; absence of a hit does not prove no claim was ever filed. The single broad hit is classified down as a collision rather than read upward as exposure evidence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-amesbury-apd46-06
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[7]Batch-2433 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS (Wayback + hazegray transcription); NOAA sanctuaries wreck page; NavSource APD archive; NARA Special List 44; Naval Vessel Register; CourtListener sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-amesbury-apd46-01 through sl-uss-amesbury-apd46-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-66/APD-46: no hull ACM survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, sampling study, or museum/abatement-phase record was found in the public sources searched, and no qualifying asbestos litigation names the vessel in the indexes searched (see litigation_sweep row and search_ledger).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 2026-09-25
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the hull was scuttled intact as a wreck and never went through a documented abatement, museum, or full scrapping process where ACM would have been inventoried. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-amesbury-apd46-07