USS Arcadia (AD-23)

Evidence

11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).

1. [1]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 'Arcadia III' (AD-23) entry, Naval History and Heritage Command (verbatim text via Wayback Machine capture 20250201220847 of the official NHHC page) [nhhc_danfs]

   Locator

   Full entry text, spec block, and naming note; live canonical URL returned HTTP 404 at research time

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   DANFS 'Arcadia III' (AD-23) entry records: laid down by Todd Shipyards Corp. on 6 March 1944 at Los Angeles, Calif.; launched 19 November 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Edward L. Beach, widow of Capt. Edward L. Beach; fitted out at Terminal Island, San Pedro; commissioned 13 September 1945, Capt. James M. Connally in command. Spec block: dp. 16,635; l. 492'; b. 69'6"; dr. 27'3"; s. 18.4 k.; cpl. 826; a. 1 5", 4 3", 4 40mm.; cl. Klondike. Service: Charleston from 1 December 1945 (tender to destroyers joining the inactive fleet; authored the class decommissioning/inactivation program); in commission in reserve 7 February 1947 as accommodation vessel for Submarine Group 1, Charleston group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet; full commission 1 August 1951, new home port Newport, R.I.; Sixth Fleet tender on many Mediterranean deployments (Naples, Cannes, Valencia, Palma, Barcelona, Lisbon, Piraeus, Istanbul); yearly Caribbean 'Springboard' operations; October 1964 Orange, Tex. stripping of five mothballed high-speed transports (~$800,000 in parts recovered); November 1966 repair of USS Saratoga (CV-60) at Mayport (19 Nov-13 Dec); 1966-67 Key West/Mayport cruises servicing Destroyer Division 601, Destroyer Squadron 16, and Gulf-port reserve-training destroyers; decommissioned 28 June 1968. Naming note: AD-23 was 'apparently misnamed Arcadia in an effort to commemorate Acadia,' the pre-1755 name for the Nova Scotia region.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-19

   Study period

   1944-1975

   Limitations

   Official Navy ship history. DANFS's prose says repair services ran 'into the 1970's' while its own closing paragraph records decommissioning 28 June 1968 - the 1970s phrasing is not carried. Contains no asbestos, insulation, or materials information; supports no asbestos claim.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-01

2. [2]U.S. Maritime Administration, ShipHistory database - ARCADIA (AD-23), Ship History Detail 292, incl. digitized MA-199 status card, MA-383 reserve-fleet particulars card, MA-20 record of ship sales, and Navy photo captions [marad_nrc]

   Locator

   ShipHistory Detail 292: milestones table; /cards/292_AF.jpg (MA-199), /cards/292_553AF.jpg (MA-383), /cards/98e313f8-f029-4564-a8a1-b3505cd47f74.png (MA-20), ARCADIA.pdf

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   MARAD ShipHistory record for this hull (Detail 292): Year Built 1945; Shipyard 'Todd Shipbuilding and Drydock'; General Type Naval Auxiliary; Specific Type 'AD Destroyer Tender'; MARAD Type C3; 492.00 ft length, 69.50 ft beam, 7,900 gross tons. Milestones: MARAD acquisition 10/23/1968; Reserve Fleet entry 6/30/1969; Sold 7/15/1974 'as scrap to Ship, Inc. for $412,000'. Scanned cards add: MA-199 vessel status card - shipyard 'Todd S/Y Corp., Los Angeles, Calif.', builder's hull no. 23, delivered to Department of the Navy, custody to Maritime Admin. at James River 10/23/68, permanent transfer to reserve fleet 6/30/69, sale to 'Ships, Inc. (scrap)' 7/15/74, physically delivered 8/2/74. MA-383 reserve-fleet particulars card - 'Todd Shipyard L.A.', entered James River 10-23-68, WITHDRAWN 10-24-73 reason 'Navy - For Stripping FOR SCRAP', sold from Portsmouth, Va. under PD-X-979 7-15-74 to Ships Inc. for $412,000; specs LOA 492'0", breadth 69'6", speed 18.4 kt, complement 48 officers / 778 enlisted; Naval Register figures light displacement 9,260 / full load 15,460. MA-20 record of ship sales - PD-X-979, contract MA-7459, advertised 6-5-74, opened 7-9-74 under conditions (1) NTU and (2) SCRAP HULL-US; award under condition (2). Photo captions document construction at 'Todd Shipbuilding, San Pedro, California' (7/10/44) and launch sponsor 'Marie Justine Alice Fouché, widow of United States Navy Captain Edward L. Beach' (11/19/44).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-19

   Study period

   1944-1974

   Limitations

   Authoritative for government custody and sale milestones; card handwriting partially legible (read directly from scans - 'Ship, Inc.' in the milestone table reads 'Ships, Inc.' on the MA-199 card). Contains no asbestos, materials, or condition-survey information; supports no asbestos claim.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-02

3. [3]MARAD MA-20 Record of Ship Sales PD-X-979 + MA-383 particulars card (withdrawal/sale fields) vs DANFS 'Arcadia III' disposal sentence [marad_nrc]

   Locator

   Status-card scans under Detail 292; DANFS entry final paragraph

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   Disposal-chain discrepancy resolved in favor of the primary custody record: MARAD documents (a) withdrawal from the James River reserve fleet to Navy custody on 24 October 1973 - reason 'Navy - For Stripping FOR SCRAP'; (b) sale from Portsmouth, Va. on 15 July 1974 to 'Ships, Inc.' for $412,000 under advertised disposal PD-X-979 / contract MA-7459, condition 'SCRAP HULL-US'; (c) physical delivery 2 August 1974. DANFS instead records that 'she was sold to Levin Metals of San Jose, Calif., in October 1975, and scrapped,' and NavSource repeats a DRMS October 1975 Levin Metals sale. The MARAD-documented buyer of record (Ships, Inc.) and dates are carried as controlling; Levin Metals is retained as the reported downstream scrapping contractor - a broker-to-scrapper chain is plausible but undocumented at primary level.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   correction

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-19

   Study period

   1973-1975

   Limitations

   Resolves the sale-of-record; the buyer's identity ('Ships, Inc.') and the Levin Metals scrapping attribution remain partially unverified - a handwritten '2500 Broadway, Camden N.J.' notation on the card back is likely the buyer's address but is uninterpreted in the record. No asbestos or hazmat content in any disposal document.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-03

4. [4]DANFS 'Arcadia III' construction line + MARAD MA-199/MA-383 shipyard fields vs Wikipedia infobox (conflicting tertiary claim) [nhhc_danfs]

   Locator

   DANFS entry first paragraph; status-card shipyard fields

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   Builder-name discrepancy resolved: DANFS records 'laid down by Todd Shipyards Corp. ... at Los Angeles, Calif.'; the MARAD status card records 'Todd S/Y Corp., Los Angeles, Calif.' (particulars card: 'Todd Shipyard L.A.'; ShipHistory header: 'Todd Shipbuilding and Drydock'). Wikipedia's infobox instead names 'Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, San Pedro, California.' The San Pedro yard was Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. until Todd Shipyards acquired it (December 1943, per secondary accounts) and operated it as its Los Angeles Division; Arcadia's March 1944 keel post-dates the acquisition, so the primary-source name 'Todd Shipyards Corp.' is adopted, with the yard's earlier name carried for clarity.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   correction

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-19

   Study period

   1943-1945

   Limitations

   Publication-level naming resolution; the December 1943 Todd acquisition date itself rests on secondary sources (no primary acquisition document retrieved). Does not materially affect identity or timeline. No asbestos content.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-04

5. [5]HyperWar/ibiblio, 'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945: AD-23 USS Arcadia' data sheet (compiled by Patrick Clancey) [other_primary]

   Locator

   Data sheet spec block

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   Secondary spec compilation (HyperWar, 'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945' data sheet): displacement 14,900 tons full load; length 492'; beam 69'6"; draft 25'; speed 18 knots max / 10 economic; armament 1 5"/38 DP, 4 3"/50 DP, 2x2 40mm, 8-22 20mm; 'geared turbine engines; single screw; 8,500 h.p.'; 'built at Todd-Pacific, Seattle, and commissioned 1945.' The machinery and armament details are consistent with the type, but the sheet's class and builder fields conflict with primary sources (see correction row ev-11).

   Verification

   partial

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-19

   Study period

   1944-1945

   Limitations

   Private wartime-ship data compilation, not an official record - used only for machinery/armament detail the primary sources lack. Its 'Hamul class' and 'Todd-Pacific, Seattle' fields are wrong per DANFS and MARAD (see ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-11); treat its 8,500 h.p. figure as secondary-compilation data. No asbestos content.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-05

6. [6]Corn & Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' Am. J. Ind. Med. 11(3):359-373 (1987) (era documentation) + MARAD shipyard/type fields for this hull [other_primary]

   Locator

   AJIM article abstract; MARAD Detail 292 shipyard/design fields

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   As built (1944-45), Arcadia's geared-turbine steam plant constituted a WWII-era naval steam installation of the type whose boiler and steam-line insulation, valve and flange gaskets, machinery packing, and fireproofing were commonly asbestos-containing in wartime U.S. naval construction; peer-reviewed scholarship documents extensive asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally. Her builder yard - the Todd Shipyards Los Angeles Division facility at San Pedro - was a wartime-contract yard building to Maritime Commission C3-type Navy designs. Typical applications for the type: boiler and steam-drum insulation; steam-line lagging; valve and flange gaskets; machinery packing; fireproofing; accommodation-space insulation.

   Verification

   inferred

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-19

   Study period

   1944-1945 (construction era)

   Population

   Todd Los Angeles Division construction trades (1944-45); engineering crew

   Limitations

   Era/class inference, not a hull record - no ship-specific insulation survey, material specification, or abatement record located. Does not establish that asbestos was or remained aboard, quantities, condition, individual exposure, or causation.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-06

7. [7]DANFS 'Arcadia III' service narrative (tender/repair workload, 1945-1968) + MARAD MA-383 withdrawal reason 'Navy - For Stripping FOR SCRAP' (10/24/73) [nhhc_danfs]

   Locator

   DANFS entry paragraphs 2-6; MARAD status-card withdrawal field

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   Arcadia's documented mission - a destroyer tender providing repair services to the Atlantic Fleet, 1945-1968 - put her shops and crew in continuous contact with machinery and piping of asbestos-era hulls: DANFS records tender service to destroyers joining the inactive fleet at Charleston, two decades of Atlantic Fleet repair services, Sixth Fleet deployments, servicing of Destroyer Division 601 / Destroyer Squadron 16 and reserve-training destroyers, a major repair availability on USS Saratoga (CV-60), and the October 1964 stripping of five mothballed high-speed transports at Orange, Texas. Disturbance events with no recorded asbestos scope include the alongside repair workload itself, the 1964 reserve-fleet parts-stripping work, and the Navy's own 1973 stripping of this hull at Portsmouth before scrap sale.

   Verification

   inferred

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-19

   Study period

   1945-1974

   Population

   Tender repair-force personnel; crews of tended ships during alongside availabilities; 1964 Orange and 1973-74 Portsmouth stripping parties

   Limitations

   Inference layered on documented facts - the repair workload and stripping events are documented (DANFS, MARAD); the asbestos content of the worked materials is era inference. No work-order-level or material-level documentation located; does not establish exposure of any individual or quantity of material disturbed.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-07

8. [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)

   Finding type

   gov_survey

   Finding

   GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-protection program and its 1975/1979 insulation-removal policies for the overhaul era - context for the fleet environment Arcadia served until 1968, though she was decommissioned before those removal policies took effect and her own 1973-74 Navy stripping predates the program controls described.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-19

   Study period

   1979

   Population

   Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review

   Limitations

   Program-level documentation, not hull-specific; GAO fieldwork yards were Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards, and Arcadia's overhaul/stripping yards are not named in the citable sources located. Full text not retrieved; content via product-page description. Does not establish what was present or removed aboard this hull.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-08

9. [9]Batch-453 search ledger (this record): sl-uss-arcadia-ad23-01 through sl-uss-arcadia-ad23-12 [other_primary]

   Locator

   search_ledger rows sl-uss-arcadia-ad23-01 through sl-uss-arcadia-ad23-12

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, court finding, or docketed asbestos case naming USS Arcadia or AD-23 was found in the sources searched - DANFS, MARAD ShipHistory (incl. status/sale cards), HyperWar spec sheet, and indexed web checks contain no asbestos or insulation-material statement. Non-authoritative leads excluded, not carried as evidence: law-firm list pages naming AD-23 as an asbestos-risk tender (asbestos-ships.com, gorilaw.com, mesotheliomabook.com); a law-firm client profile describing a mesothelioma client with brief 1957-60 Arcadia service (waterskraus.com); and reunion-board posts reporting crew deaths attributed to asbestos/mesothelioma incl. a 2003 attorney post seeking Arcadia shipmates (koreanwar.org).

   Verification

   partial

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-19

   Study period

   2026-09-19

   Limitations

   Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1944-45 steam-powered tender with a full repair plant is era-consistent with extensive asbestos-containing material. Coverage is INCOMPLETE: CourtListener could not be queried (API HTTP 429 daily limit; HTML endpoint HTTP 403), so the systematic name/hull-number docket sweep is an open item; 'Arcadia' is also a high-collision place name requiring care when the sweep runs. Excluded law-firm/forum material signals litigation interest but is unverified and non-qualifying as evidence.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-09

10. [10]NARA record-group guidance (RG 24 deck logs; RG 19 Bureau of Ships) + NHHC photo catalog + NavSource archive listing [other_primary]

    Locator

    NARA military logbook guidance; NHHC photo number cited in NavSource search-index snippet

    Finding type

    historical_record

    Finding

    Archival leads (not retrieved - no spend authorized): NARA RG 24 deck logs cover this hull 1945-1968 (post-WWII logs at NARA College Park; wartime-era logs at the National Archives in Washington); RG 19 Bureau of Ships records hold C3-type tender construction/design files potentially covering the Todd Los Angeles yard contracts; the ship's own inactivation-program documentation (she authored the class procedure at Charleston 1945-47) may survive in Charleston Atlantic Reserve Fleet records; NHHC photographic holdings include image NH 96652 and construction/launch photography also mirrored in MARAD Detail 292; NavSource hosts the hull's photo archive page (09/03/0323.htm) including a commanding-officer list - page unreachable at research time.

    Verification

    unverified

    Role

    archival_lead

    Documentation level

    context_only

    Accessed

    2026-09-19

    Study period

    1944-1975 records

    Limitations

    Record-group and finding-aid mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; whether asbestos-specific documents exist for this hull is unknown until surveyed. The NavSource page could not be fetched (DNS resolution failure at research time); its commanding-officer list and photo captions were not captured. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.

    Atlas source

    true

    Evidence ID

    ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-10

11. [11]DANFS 'Arcadia III' spec block ('cl. Klondike') and construction line vs HyperWar data sheet ('Hamul class'; 'Todd-Pacific, Seattle') [nhhc_danfs]

    Locator

    DANFS spec block; HyperWar sheet header lines

    Finding type

    historical_record

    Finding

    Source discrepancy resolved: the HyperWar 'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945' data sheet for AD-23 lists the hull under 'Hamul class Destroyer Tender' and 'built at Todd-Pacific, Seattle.' DANFS's spec block states 'cl. Klondike' and records construction by Todd Shipyards Corp. at Los Angeles; MARAD cards independently record the builder as Todd at Los Angeles. The Klondike class (AD-22 through AD-25) was built at the Todd Los Angeles Division yard in San Pedro - the Hamul-class grouping and Seattle attribution in the secondary sheet are logged as compilation errors and not adopted.

    Verification

    verified

    Role

    correction

    Documentation level

    ship_specific

    Accessed

    2026-09-19

    Study period

    1944-1945

    Limitations

    Publication-level error resolution among the cited sources; does not materially affect identity or timeline. Some secondary works fold the Klondike class into Hamul as a related C3 tender group - the class assignment here follows DANFS and the fleet lists. No asbestos content.

    Atlas source

    true

    Evidence ID

    ev-uss-arcadia-ad23-11