Evidence
12 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-12).
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[1]research packet ca-packet.md (1 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: MISMATCH. — real identity: NONE — the vessel was never named [W] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sotoyomo-class_tugboat (ships table lists name "n/a")
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-at-125-at125-pkt-ca-packet-md
-
[2]Shipscribe (T. Colton), USS ATR-41 Class construction and disposition tables + ship notes, compiled from U.S. Navy and Maritime Commission records [other_primary]
- Locator
- ATR-41 class page: construction table row ATR-47; disposition table row ATR-47; ship note block ATR-47
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- ATR-47: ordered 15 Jun 1942; ex fleet tug AT-125 effective 31 Jul 1942; built Levingston SB, Orange TX; keel 21 Dec 1942; launched 29 Jan 1943; commissioned 12 Aug 1943; reclassified ATA-125 15 May 1944. Disposition: decommissioned 31 May 1946; stricken 3 Jul 1946; sold (delivered) by the Maritime Commission 24 Dec 1946 to Diamond Construction Co., Washington DC. Merchant chain: JOSEPH H. MORAN II 1947, DRAGON 1949, JOSEPH H. MORAN II 1953, DRAGON 1959, UTRECHT 1960, HIPPOPOTAME (French Navy) 1964; sunk as target in Pacific 4 Apr 1986; condemned and designated hulk Q-647 21 Apr 1986. Ship note: 'To have been trf. to UK under Lend Lease as JUSTICE but retained by U.S.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1986
- Population
- U.S. Navy crew (commissioned period); commercial tug crews (1946-1964); French Navy crew (1964-1986)
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary reference, not itself a primary document - but derived from Navy/MC records and internally consistent across the class; adopted over NavSource for keel/launch/decommission/strike/sale dates (see correction row ev-uss-at-125-at125-02). No asbestos information; does not establish exposure or conditions aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-at-125-at125-01
-
[3]NavSource Online Service Ship Photo Archive, USS ATA-125 ex USS ATR-47 - construction dates as printed conflict with the Shipscribe yard table [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource ATA-125 page history block vs Shipscribe ATR-41 construction/disposition rows 46-47
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource's ATA-125 page carries 'laid down 27 November 1942, launched 3 January 1943' - values that exactly duplicate the keel/launch dates Shipscribe's systematic Levingston construction table assigns to sister ATR-46 (ATA-124). The same NavSource page lists decommission and Naval Register strike dates as 'unknown' and gives the Navy sale as 24 December 1945 to an unknown owner; Shipscribe records decommission 31 May 1946, strike 3 Jul 1946, and MC sale 24 Dec 1946 to Diamond Construction Co. Shipscribe's table is adopted for these dates; NavSource values are treated as a propagated error.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1946
- Limitations
- Both sources are secondary compilations; the correction rests on internal-consistency analysis (identical values in adjacent yard rows) rather than a primary document pull. The NARA/MC source records remain the controlling archive if exact dates are litigated.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-at-125-at125-02
-
[4]NavSource Online Service Ship Photo Archive, USS ATA-125 ex USS ATR-47 (page maintainer Gary P. Priolo); corroborated by NavalCoverMuseum ATA-125 page [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource ATA-125 page: campaign table, specification block, commanding-officer table; https://www.navalcovermuseum.org/wiki/ATA_125
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- ATA-125 was assigned to the Europe-Africa-Middle East Theater with campaign credit for the Invasion of Normandy, 6-25 June 1944, and the Invasion of Southern France, 15 August-25 September 1944, earning two battle stars; awards listed: American Campaign Medal, EAME Campaign Medal (2 stars), WWII Victory Medal. Specs on page: displacement 835 t full; 143' x 33'10"; draft 13'2"; 13 kts trial; complement 5 officers + 40 enlisted; armament one 3"/50 DP mount; propulsion one General Motors 12-278A diesel-electric, single Fairbanks Morse main reduction gear, diesel-driven 60 kW + 30 kW 120V DC generators, single propeller, 1300 bbl diesel. Commanding officers: LT Harry L. Lane USNR (commissioning to 4 Oct 1944), LTjg John C. Griffith USNR (to 27 Aug 1945), LT Laurence J. Brengle Jr. USNR (to Mar 1946), LTjg Bernard P. Carey Jr. USNR (Mar 1946-). International radio call sign NZHJ.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- U.S. Navy crew, 1943-1946
- Limitations
- Volunteer-compiled naval-history archive (not an official record); dates corroborated against Shipscribe and the official sources cited in adjacent rows. Page's keel/launch and disposition dates superseded by ev-02 correction. No asbestos information; campaign credit and battle stars rest on NavSource's compilation, not the NHHC campaign register itself.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-at-125-at125-03
-
[5]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, USS Amesbury (DE-66) entry (hazegray transcription of DANFS) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Amesbury (DE-66) entry, Normandy paragraph; canonical URL https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/amesbury.html (404 at access time)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- On 11 June 1944 off Normandy, after LST-496 struck a mine at 2112, 'the tug ATA-125 arrived on the scene and, with the assistance of Amesbury's sailors on board LST-496, secured a tow line to the crippled ship'; LST-496, barely underway, then capsized to port and sank after Amesbury cut lines and recovered her sailors. Documents ATA-125 actively employed on towing/rescue duty in the Normandy assault area five days after D-Day.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1944-06-11
- Population
- ATA-125 crew; Amesbury salvage detail aboard LST-496
- Limitations
- Entry is another vessel's DANFS history that names ATA-125 in one action; canonical NHHC page returned 404 at access time (standing NHHC link-rot issue noted in BATCH-01), so the hazegray faithful transcription is cited. Establishes wartime employment only - no asbestos, maintenance, or material information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-at-125-at125-04
-
[6]Comdr. Byron S. Huie Jr., USNR, 'Salvage ships Operations in Normandy Invasion' - official U.S. Navy after-action narrative, HyperWar transcription [other_primary]
- Locator
- HyperWar transcription, storm-reinforcement paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- During the storm that wrecked the Normandy anchorages beginning about 19 June 1944, 'about the second day of the storm, additional salvage and rescue craft began to report to the unit commander. These included two British tugs, the Empire John and the Empire Bascobeal. The ATR 13 reported and also the ATA 125.' The unit - combat salvage and fire fighting unit of TG 122.3 under Comdr. Huie - subsequently removed 139 large landing craft plus 38 miscellaneous craft from the beaches after the storm abated about 25 June.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1944-06
- Population
- ATA-125 crew; salvage-unit personnel
- Limitations
- Official narrative (recorded 18 August 1944) transcribed by HyperWar/ibiblio; establishes the tug's attachment to the Normandy salvage unit during the storm. No asbestos, maintenance, or material information; does not detail ATA-125's individual tasks within the unit.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-at-125-at125-05
-
[7]ImagesDefense (ECPAD, official French Ministry of Defense audiovisual archive), photo caption: remorqueur de haute-mer Hippopotame (A660) at anchor in the Moruroa lagoon among Force Alpha [other_primary]
- Locator
- ImagesDefense record page, photo caption and album metadata 'Polynesie francaise (1964-1989)'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- An official French defense-archive photograph documents the high-seas tug Hippopotame (A660) - the ex-ATA-125 sold to France in 1964 - moored in the Moruroa lagoon among the ships of Force Alpha, the naval formation supporting the French nuclear-test program (CEP) in Polynesia, in the album's 1964-1989 French Polynesia coverage.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1964-1985
- Population
- French Navy crew; CEP test-support personnel
- Limitations
- Confirms the hull's French-naval identity, pennant A660, and presence at Moruroa during the CEP era; the caption does not date the photograph precisely, does not document the 1985/1986 sinking event, and contains no material or asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-at-125-at125-06
-
[8]Fleischer, W.E., Viles, F.J. Jr., Gade, R.L., Drinker, P., 'A Health Survey of Pipe Covering Operations in Constructing Naval Vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol 28:9-16 (January 1946), PMID 21016030 [other_primary]
- Locator
- J Ind Hyg Toxicol 28:9-16 (1946); PubMed record PMID 21016030
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A primary industrial-hygiene study of WWII naval-vessel construction states that 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels is amosite' asbestos, and documents asbestos felt, pipe covering, asbestos cloth, and asbestos cement use with dust counts at two government Navy yards and two Navy contract yards.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1944-1945 survey period; published 1946
- Population
- WWII Navy-yard and contract-yard pipe coverers (class context)
- Limitations
- Era-level documentation of asbestos use in Navy vessel construction generally; the study examined shipyard pipe-covering operations, not this hull or class, and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard ATA-125, nor quantity, location, condition, individual exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-at-125-at125-07
-
[9]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Abstract and article, AJIM 11(3):359-373
- 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, the era and program under which this steel tug was built (contract June 1942, completed 1943), and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization aboard government and merchant hulls.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-at-125-at125-08
-
[10]CourtListener API v4 authenticated searches, 2026-09-26 [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener v4 search, type=o, queries "ATA-125" and "ATR-47": count=0 each
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener opinion-index searches for "ATA-125" and "ATR-47" (the hull's commissioned designations) returned zero results - no qualifying asbestos litigation and no litigation of any kind naming this hull was located in the opinion index.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 2026-09-26
- Limitations
- Sweep covered the opinion index only at report time: RECAP docket-level queries were fleet-throttled during the session (see search_ledger sl-uss-at-125-at125-10) and remain an open follow-up. Absence of a docketed case is not evidence about asbestos conditions aboard; commercial-era claims would run under owner/operator names (Moran Towing, South American Towing, Bureau Wijsmuller) rather than the hull designation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-at-125-at125-09
-
[11]NARA record path for this hull (record-group mapping only; no box-level retrieval authorized) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Photo identifiers as captioned on NavSource ATA-125 and Shipscribe ATR-41 photo pages; NARA record-group structure
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Documented archival leads for this hull: NARA RG-19-LCM photo 80-G-87189 (USS ATR-47 underway, 27 Oct 1943) and RG-19 textual files Item S-22, Norfolk Navy Yard photos 9860-45/9861-45 (ATA-125 inclining experiment, 23 Feb 1945), both cited by NavSource/Shipscribe photo captions; RG-24 deck logs for ATR-47/ATA-125; RG-38 WWII war diaries; RG-178 Maritime Commission sale records underlying the 24 Dec 1946 delivery to Diamond Construction Co.; Levingston hull 283 contract records under the GM-prime BuShips tug program.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1946 holdings
- Limitations
- Record-group and photo-number mapping only - none of these records was retrieved or examined, and their contents are unknown. The lead establishes where ship-specific material records could exist, not that they document asbestos.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-at-125-at125-10
-
[12]Batch-2758 search ledger (this record): NavSource, Shipscribe, NavalCoverMuseum, DANFS index and Amesbury entry, HyperWar Navy reports, ImagesDefense, MARAD/NVR checks, commercial tug registries, PubMed [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-at-125-at125-01 through sl-uss-at-125-at125-14
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming ATR-47 or ATA-125 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull left U.S. Navy custody in 1946 and was sunk as a target in the Pacific in April 1986, so no surviving-hull survey record is expected.
- 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 during service - the 1942-43 construction era and era-level Navy pipe-covering documentation (ev-07, ev-08) are consistent with era-typical asbestos use, but that inference is class/era only. This hull's diesel-electric plant (no boilers/steam) narrows the era-typical application set. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-at-125-at125-11