Evidence
12 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-12).
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[1]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 3 (NAVSHIPS 250-012, 1945), Auxiliaries - Barracks Ships (APL) section, construction-table row for APL 23 (shipscribe.com scan of the official BuShips publication) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v3, Auxiliaries - Barracks Ships (APL): characteristics table p. 318 (APL 2-34 row), construction table p. 320 (APL 23 row)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official BuShips Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 3 (1945) carries a per-hull construction row for APL 23: built by Pollock-Stockton S. B. Co., Stockton, Calif.; keel laid 24 Jul 1944; launched 26 Sep 1944 (the 'date of first commission' column is blank - the volume predates the 7 Jun 1945 in-service date). The type characteristics row for APL 2-34 gives 261'2" overall / 260'0" waterline, 49'2" extreme beam, ~2,660 tons estimated full-load displacement ('no limiting displacement or draft established'), accommodations 5 officers + 66 enlisted with troop capacity 583 enlisted, and three diesel-driven 100-kW 450-VAC ship's-service generators with 1,600-bbl diesel-oil capacity; the footnote states these ships were non-self-propelled with no main propulsion machinery and no armament.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- Ship's company (5 officers, 66 enlisted); up to 583 berthed personnel
- Limitations
- Authoritative wartime BuShips publication naming this hull - confirms identity, builder, dates, manning, accommodations, and generator plant. OCR of the scanned table is columnar and partially garbled; values cross-verified against ShipScribe. Contains no materials, insulation, or asbestos information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-01
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[2]ShipScribe (Stephen S. Roberts), USS APL-2 Class page - construction table, disposal table, ship notes, and class notes compiled from Navy registers, Auxiliary Vessels Board/BuShips records, and NVR [other_primary]
- Locator
- Construction table row 23; disposal table row 23; ship note 'APL-23'; class notes (design description; FY42 group statement; APL 17-31 program paragraph)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- ShipScribe USS APL-2 class page records for APL-23: ordered 29 Jan 1944 (FY 1942 program; APL 23-26 was the Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding group, Stockton CA); keel 24 Jul 1944; launched 26 Sep 1944; placed in service 7 Jun 1945; ship note 'Out of service in reserve by Jan 47'; disposal table: struck 1 Jun 1973, sold 29 Jan 1974. Class notes document the type as 'standard non-self-propelled 2,000-ton 260-foot Navy covered barges with a two-story barracks built on top instead of the usual simple warehouse,' added to the program by the Auxiliary Vessels Board (not the District Craft Development Board); the APL 17-31 group followed BuShips' 14 Dec 1943 recommendation of one APL per tender to permit three-shift repair-force manning (Board review 28 Dec 1943). APL 23-26 were ordered as APLs and carried no prior YF numbers.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1944-1974
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary transcription of official Navy register, board, and disposal records, not the registers themselves; construction data corroborate SDB 1945 v3 independently. The active-period station record (Jun 1945 - Jan 1947) and the 1947-1973 reserve berthing location are not stated. Contains no asbestos or materials content; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-02
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[3]Naval Vessel Register (nvr.navy.mil), 'US Navy Hulls in a Non Active status - N' list, APL 23 row (Wayback capture 20160927035925) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Wayback capture 2016-09-27, inactive-N status table, APL 23 row; live quick-find SHIP_DETAIL_APL-23.HTML returns shell only
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The Naval Vessel Register's inactive-status listing (as captured by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine in 2016) carries an entry for this hull: 'NO NAME | APL 23 | 01/01/1974 | Disposed of, by Navy Sale' - an official Navy register record confirming disposal by Navy sale effective 1 Jan 1974. The live NVR quick-find page for APL-23 serves only the register shell ('ships and service craft disposed of prior to 1987 are currently not included... the data is gradually being added').
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1974 disposal
- Limitations
- Authoritative register record of disposal method and effective date. The NVR effective date 1974-01-01 differs from ShipScribe's sale date 1974-01-29 - likely register-effective vs sale-completion dates; both carried (see gaps). Live NVR returns no detail page for pre-1987 disposals; the 2016 capture is the cited record. Contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-03
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[4]Shipbuilding History (shipbuildinghistory.com), Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding yard page (yard profile + hull list row) and US Navy Barracks Ships and Barges APB/APL table (navalmarinearchive.com mirror) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/emergencysmall/pollock.htm (yard profile; APL 23 hull row); navalmarinearchive.com/sbh/smallships/auxapl.html (APL 23 row 'Scrapped 1974')
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Shipbuilding History's Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding yard table lists this hull: 'APL 23 | US Navy | Barracks Barge | 1,300 tons | 261 ft | 1945 | Scrapped 1974.' Yard profile: Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding was started in 1942 by George Pollock (primary business Pollock Construction Company), occupied 50 acres on the north bank of the Stockton Channel near Louis Park, Stockton CA, and closed in 1946 - an emergency wartime yard. The Naval Marine Archive mirror of the same dataset (auxapl table) corroborates: 'APL 23, Pollock Stockton, Stockton CA, 1,300, 261, 1945, Scrapped 1974.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1944-1974
- Population
- Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding construction trades (1944-45)
- Limitations
- Specialist secondary compilation of yard production records - consistent with SDB 1945 v3 and ShipScribe. 'Scrapped 1974' is consistent with the documented 29 Jan 1974 sale but the buyer and dismantling site are not named (see gaps). Contains no asbestos or materials information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-04
-
[5]Consolidated era/design inference - BuShips SDB 1945 v3 type characteristics (APL 2-34 row) + ShipScribe class design notes + Pollock-Stockton construction record (SDB construction table; Shipbuilding History yard profile) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v3 p. 318 (APL 2-34 characteristics) and p. 320 (APL 23 construction row); ShipScribe class notes; GlobalSecurity APL type page (self-sufficiency and compartment description)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: this hull was a standard WWII 2,000-ton 260-foot non-self-propelled covered-barge hull fitted with a two-story barracks block (berthing for 583), messing and galley facilities, laundry, sick bay, and a three-unit diesel generator plant, built at the Pollock-Stockton emergency wartime yard Jul 1944 - Jun 1945, the peak era of shipboard asbestos use in U.S. construction. The plant and outfit configuration is of the type for which generator exhaust/muffler lagging, heating-pipe and ventilation-duct insulation, galley-equipment insulation, electrical insulation, joiner bulkhead insulation, and floor/deck coverings were commonly asbestos-containing in wartime Navy construction. As a non-propelled craft the dominant asbestos-in-steam-machinery pathway does not apply - candidate ACM systems are confined to construction and habitability materials.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1944-1974
- Population
- Pollock-Stockton construction trades (1944-45); ship's company and berthed personnel (1945-46); reserve-fleet caretakers (1947-73); scrapping-yard workers (1974)
- Limitations
- Inference from the documented design, generator plant, and construction era - NOT a hull record. No materials schedule, insulation specification, or survey naming APL-23 was located; the hull was scrapped in 1974, before Navy asbestos-survey practice and federal NESHAP rules existed. Establishes no asbestos content, quantity, location, individual exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-05
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[6]Fleischer, W.E., Viles, F.J. Jr., Gade, R.L., and Drinker, P., 'A health survey of pipe covering operations in constructing naval vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol 28(1):9-16 (Jan 1946), PMID 21016030 [other_primary]
- Locator
- PubMed record PMID 21016030; article pp. 9-16 (pipe covering material section)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- The U.S. Maritime Commission-commissioned industrial-hygiene survey of WWII pipe-covering operations at two Navy yards and two Navy contract yards documented that 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels is amosite' - i.e., asbestos insulation was standard material in wartime naval-vessel construction of exactly this hull's era and type.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- survey ~1944-45; published 1946
- Population
- WWII pipe coverers and insulators at Navy and contract yards (era context)
- Limitations
- Era-level documentation of asbestos use in naval construction generally; does not name this vessel, class, or builder yard (whether Pollock-Stockton was among the surveyed contract yards is unverified) and establishes nothing about this hull's materials, condition, or any individual exposure. (The study's exculpatory 'not a dangerous occupation' conclusion has since been heavily criticized - DOI 10.1177/10482911261446696.)
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-06
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[7]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 1987;11(3):359-373 (PMID 3555021, DOI 10.1002/ajim.4700110311) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Abstract and article record (PubMed PMID 3555021; publisher DOI page)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical study documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during WWII, when wartime industrial expansion produced an unprecedented rise in asbestos utilization; shipyard workers and others exposed in the 1940s developed asbestos diseases from the 1960s onward. APL-23 was built 1944-45 at a commercial emergency wartime yard, squarely inside this documented use window.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1940s wartime shipbuilding; article 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level literature - does not name this hull, this class, or this yard; establishes that asbestos use was standard practice in 1940s U.S. shipbuilding, not that it was present aboard APL-23. Does not establish quantity, location, condition, individual exposure, or causation aboard this craft.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-07
-
[8]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 to automated fetch, HTTP 403 - standing note from batch-01)
- Finding type
- regulatory
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-protection program: the standing policy to remove deteriorated asbestos insulation during overhauls dates from 1975, with a 1979 directive tightening removal requirements. APL-23 was sold out of Navy custody in January 1974 - before the documented Navy asbestos-control program era and before federal NESHAP asbestos rules - so no Navy-custody abatement record is expected to exist for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1979 (program review); bounds 1974 disposal
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers (program context)
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation bounding what records could exist - not hull-specific. Establishes expected absence of a Navy abatement record post-1974 disposal; does not establish presence or absence of ACM aboard, and says nothing about the scrapyard-phase handling of any material.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-08
-
[9]CourtListener API v4 opinion searches 'APL-23' and 'USS APL-23' (authenticated via cl-auth-search.py); VA Board of Veterans' Appeals decision index check [court_record]
- Locator
- cl-auth-search.py results logged in search_ledger rows sl-uss-apl-23-apl23-08 through -10
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener authenticated sweeps (cl-auth-search.py, 2026-09-26): 'APL-23' opinion search returned 2 hits, both name collisions - Cuth v. Cuth, 2021 Pa. Super. 200, 263 A.3d 1186 (family/partition matter; 'APL-23' appears as an exhibit or docket label string) and Condon v. Quigley, 209 A.D. 362, 204 N.Y.S. 611 (N.Y. App. Div. 1924, a partition action predating the hull) - neither names the vessel nor involves asbestos; 'USS APL-23' opinion search returned 0 hits. No qualifying asbestos litigation - or any litigation - naming the hull was located in the opinion index. The 'APL-23' docket/RECAP sweep was deferred by fleet-rate pacing and not completed within the session (logged in the search ledger). A VA BVA index check surfaced no decision naming the craft ('APL'/'APLA' medical-acronym collisions only).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- sweep completed 2026-09-26
- Limitations
- A completed sweep negative is not proof that no case exists: unindexed state-court filings, settled pleading-stage matters, and dockets not captured in RECAP would not appear. 'APL-23' is a collision-prone string (APL shipping-line entities, exhibit labels) - hits were individually screened and classified non-qualifying. Opinion-index sweeps completed for both 'APL-23' and 'USS APL-23'; the docket-level sweep was deferred by fleet pacing (see search_ledger) - a partial coverage limitation on this negative.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-09
-
[10]ShipScribe disposal table + NVR inactive-N capture (documented dates) vs Wikipedia APL-17-class table (discrepant '1971' fate) and secondary 'commissioned' phrasing [other_primary]
- Locator
- Wikipedia class table APL-23 row ('Disposed in 1971'); ShipScribe disposal table row 23; NVR inactive-N list (Wayback 2016); sister-hull NavSource in-service phrasing pattern
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Two publication discrepancies corrected: (a) 'commissioned' - ShipScribe's construction-table column and Wikipedia's APL-17-class table print 'commissioned 7 June 1945'; APLs were noncommissioned Navy service craft manned by an officer-in-charge, so 'placed in service' is the correct status (sister-hull NavSource pages use 'Delivered and placed in service' phrasing). (b) Disposal year - Wikipedia's class table states 'Disposed in 1971,' conflicting with the documented record (struck 1 Jun 1973 per ShipScribe; NVR disposal by Navy sale effective 1 Jan 1974; sale 29 Jan 1974 per ShipScribe; scrapped 1974 per Shipbuilding History) - the 1973/1974 dates are carried and '1971' treated as erroneous.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1945-1974
- Limitations
- Terminology and date corrections only - the 7 Jun 1945 in-service date and 1973-74 disposal are uncontested across authoritative compilations. Does not affect the asbestos analysis.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-10
-
[11]Batch-2477 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS (404), SDB 1945 v3, ShipScribe, NVR (live + 2016 capture), MARAD ShipHistory, Shipbuilding History, Naval Marine Archive, NARA deck-log list, GlobalSecurity, Wikipedia cross-check, CourtListener sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-apl-23-apl23-01 through -12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no hull ACM survey, material schedule, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, court finding, or docketed asbestos case naming APL-23 or USS APL-23 was found in the public sources searched - no DANFS entry exists (noncommissioned service craft; NHHC URL pattern returns 404), the live NVR excludes pre-1987 disposals, no APL-23 deck logs are digitized at NARA, no MARAD ShipHistory record exists (hull sold out of Navy custody, never a MARAD vessel), and the ShipScribe/Shipbuilding History/Naval Marine Archive compilations contain no asbestos statement (see search_ledger).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 2026-09-26
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1944-45 accommodation barge is era-consistent with ACM in construction and habitability materials, and disposal in 1974 before asbestos-control regimes means no abatement documentation would be expected even if ACM was present. Does not establish presence or absence; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-11
-
[12]NARA Guide to Federal Records: RG 19 (Bureau of Ships), RG 24 (Bureau of Naval Personnel - deck logs), RG 181 (Naval Districts); GlobalSecurity APL page (NAVSEA drawing table); NARA Navy deck-log online list (no APL coverage) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov record-group guides 019/024/181; archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online (no APL vessels listed); globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/apl.htm drawing table
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - require research-room or reproduction order; no spend authorized): (a) NARA RG 19 (Records of the Bureau of Ships) - BuShips contract and plan records for the Pollock-Stockton APL 23-26 group (ordered 29 Jan 1944), the likeliest source of materials/outfitting specifications; (b) NAVSEA Booklet of General Plans drawing 1113310 (listed by GlobalSecurity for the APL 2 and APL 17 classes, the design family covering APL-23) - the plans booklet is the document most likely to carry materials/insulation callouts for the type; (c) NARA RG 24 deck logs or officer-in-charge records for the in-service period Jun 1945 - Jan 1947 (none digitized); (d) the Navy surplus-sale file for the 29 Jan 1974 disposal (Defense Property Disposal Service/DRMS predecessor records) - the most promising disposal-phase lead; (e) RG 181 12th Naval District records for the reserve-fleet berthing period 1947-1973.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1944-1974 records
- Limitations
- Record-group and drawing-number mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for this hull is unknown until surveyed in person. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-23-apl23-12