Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
-
[1]DANFS, Astoria II (CA-34) (builder, dates, specifications, service narrative; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404); corroborating transcription: hazegray DANFS Vol. A 1991 [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + full service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 1 September 1930 at the Puget Sound Navy Yard as CL-34; reclassified heavy cruiser CA-34 on 1 July 1931; launched 16 December 1933; commissioned 28 April 1934, Capt. Edmund S. Root in command. CruDiv 7/6 Scouting Force out of San Pedro 1934-39; carried the ashes of Japanese Ambassador Hirosi Saito to Yokohama March-April 1939; Hawaiian Detachment/Pearl Harbor from October 1939; Mare Island Navy Yard refit April-July 1941 (quadruple 1.1-inch AA mounts, foremast pedestal for air-search radar). At sea with TF 12 (Lexington) on 7 December 1941; Wake relief expedition; TF 11/TF 17 operations; Coral Sea and Midway screening of Yorktown; Guadalcanal landings fire support. Hit at least 65 times in the night action off Savo Island; salvage party reboarded at daylight but fires and flooding forced abandonment; rolled to port and sank about 1215 on 9 August 1942. Three battle stars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1930-1942
- Population
- Puget Sound Navy Yard construction trades 1930-34; crew 1934-42
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content; the entry does not state a stricken date. Mirror transcriptions cited because the live NHHC page returns 404; minor transcription variances exist between the ibiblio and hazegray copies (e.g., 1215 vs 1216 sinking time).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-astoria-ca34-01
-
[2]Bureau of Ships, War Damage Report No. 29: U.S.S. QUINCY (CA39), U.S.S. ASTORIA (CA34), U.S.S. VINCENNES (CA44) - Loss in Action, Battle of Savo Island, 9 August 1942 (Preliminary Design Branch, 21 June 1943) [other_primary]
- Locator
- WDR-29 Summary paras. 1-7; Astoria narrative and damage sections II.A, III; Discussion VI.B (Fires)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official BuShips engineering loss analysis naming this hull: Astoria received at least 65 known projectile hits; structural damage alone was not fatal, but uncontrolled fires - enabled by destroyed/inoperable firefighting facilities and loss of power - caused the loss; she capsized to port and sank at 1215 on 9 August 1942. Personnel casualties described qualitatively as heavy, concentrated at secondary-battery/antiaircraft stations and midship repair parties. The report's conclusions drove a Bureau program of flammable-material removal and substitution of 'fibrous glass for insulation' and flame-resistant fabric treatments.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1942-08-09; report dated 1943-06-21
- Population
- Crew at loss, 9 August 1942 (survivors and dead not enumerated in report)
- Limitations
- Primary engineering record of combat loss, not a materials or asbestos survey - the report never uses the word asbestos and does not itemize insulation composition aboard. The fibrous-glass substitution passage describes post-loss fleet policy, not this hull's as-built fit. Built from CO/survivor reports (references a-d); casualty figures are qualitative only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-astoria-ca34-02
-
[3]Navypedia New Orleans-class page (class machinery data: 4 sets Westinghouse geared steam turbines, 8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 107,000 shp, 4 shafts, 32.7 kt; member table confirms CA-34 build data) + Atlas shipyard dataset, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard record (tier 1, era asbestos product documentation) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navypedia us_cr_new_orleans.htm specs block and member table; shipyards.json record 'puget-sound-naval-shipyard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era inference: a treaty-era heavy cruiser built 1930-34 with an eight-boiler, 107,000-shp steam plant would have carried period-standard asbestos-containing boiler and steam-line insulation, turbine lagging, gaskets, packing, fireproofing, deck coverings, and compartment insulation; builder Puget Sound Navy Yard is documented in the Atlas yard dataset as a tier-1 yard with era asbestos product use (thermal insulation, gaskets, electrical systems, deck tiles, fireproofing materials, refractory materials).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1930-1942
- Population
- Puget Sound Navy Yard construction trades 1930-34; crew 1934-42
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No insulation survey for CA-34 exists or is feasible at wreck depth; does not quantify material, does not establish any individual's exposure, and makes no claim about the lost crew.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-astoria-ca34-03
-
[4]Ocean Exploration Trust / E/V Nautilus expedition NA173 official wreck page (Sept 2025); U.S. Navy News, 'Expedition Reveals Thirteen Shipwrecks from WWII Battles off Guadalcanal' (Aug 2025); Ocean News & Technology, 'Mapping the Ghost Fleet of Iron Bottom Sound' (June 2015, expedition participant account) [other_primary]
- Locator
- nautiluslive.org NA173 video page; navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/display-news/Article/4272152/; oceannews.com feature story (June 2015)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Wreck record: Astoria was positively identified among 29 wreck locations in the January 2015 Paul Allen/Vulcan Iron Bottom Sound sonar-mapping expedition aboard Octopus (6 wrecks positively identified); secondary compilations report her upright at ~860 m with the bow forward of turret No. 1 detached onto the after hangar area. In July 2025, expedition NA173 (OET E/V Nautilus, supported by NOAA Ocean Exploration via OECI, with NHHC participation) ran a three-part NORBIT multibeam survey and ROV visual survey of the 175-m wreck, documenting broken aircraft catapult systems, shell artillery and casings, and a heavily damaged deck, forward superstructure, and bridge. The U.S. Navy news release lists CA-34 among the surveyed wrecks.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2015-01; 2025-07/08
- Population
- Expedition and NHHC personnel (2015, 2025); war grave - crew remains aboard
- Limitations
- Documents wreck location, condition, and custody context only - archaeological surveys are non-invasive external/visible surveys, not materials sampling; nothing in these sources speaks to asbestos or insulation composition. 2015 discovery detail verified via search index (live oceannews.com page now 404s); navy.mil release returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch. Wreck depth rests on secondary compilations.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-astoria-ca34-04
-
[5]VA Board of Veterans' Appeals, Citation Nr. 1035620, Docket No. 07-11 082 (remand decision, 20 September 2010) [other_primary]
- Locator
- BVA decision REMAND section, evidence-of-record recital (service dates 1944-46; Luzon typhoon/kamikaze statements)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Verified name collision: this BVA asbestos-service-connection remand recites a Seaman First Class who 'served aboard the USS Astoria' with claimed work 'on and near asbestos covered pipes' - but the veteran's active service ran March 1944 to April 1946, and shipmate statements describe typhoon damage off Luzon in December 1944 and kamikaze attacks. Those facts identify USS Astoria CL-90, the Cleveland-class light cruiser commissioned May 1944; CA-34 had already been sunk for nearly two years when that service began.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2006-2010 (claim); 1944-1946 (alleged exposure window)
- Population
- Navy veteran Seaman First Class, CL-90, 1944-46 service; asbestosis claim
- Limitations
- Documents a different hull (CL-90); establishes nothing about CA-34. Carried as a correction row because name-only searches for 'USS Astoria' surface this official adjudication record; unreviewed readers could otherwise misattribute it. The claim itself was remanded without a merits finding on exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-astoria-ca34-05
-
[6]Batch-82 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS; BuShips WDR-29; expedition-official wreck pages; CourtListener exact-name and hull-number queries (blocked); site-indexed web enumeration; VA vetapp index [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-astoria-ca34-05 through sl-uss-astoria-ca34-08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no hull survey exists or is feasible (deep-water wreck), no abatement or hazmat disclosure exists (never decommissioned or scrapped), and no qualifying asbestos case or adjudicated claim names CA-34. Site-indexed enumeration of 'USS Astoria' litigation returns city-name and unrelated hits; the one official claims record (BVA 1035620) is a verified CL-90 collision.
- 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 cruiser sunk with her 1942 fit intact retains era materials in the wreck; the ship never underwent postwar scrapping or abatement. CourtListener API was daily-quota exhausted and the frontend bot-blocked this session, so docket-level certainty is deferred to a QA re-run; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-astoria-ca34-06