Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet crew-df-packet.md (7 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: PHANTOM — real identity: none — hull was never named
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-ata-225-ata225-pkt-crew-df-packet-md
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[2]Shipscribe USS ATA-174 (later WATEREE) class compilation (S.S. Roberts, compiled 2002-2011 from Navy/BuShips/Maritime Commission records): construction and disposition tables; class notes; ship note ATA-225 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Construction table row ATA-225; Disposition table row ATA-225 (struck 17 Apr 46; MC action 9 May 47; to buyer 7 May 47); ship note '225'; class notes (Lend-Lease program history)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- ATA-225 was one of twenty steel auxiliary ocean tugs (ATA 219-238) ordered 20 Nov 1944 under a CNO program approved 18 Nov 1944, initially allocated for Lend-Lease to the USSR (Munitions Assignment Committee assignment 17 or 24 Jan 1945). Built as Levingston Shipbuilding yard hull 372 at Orange, TX: laid down 8 Mar 1945, launched 13 Apr 1945. The design is the Navy BAT-1 diesel-electric tug (ATA-174 class; 'Sotoyomo class' in NavSource/Wikipedia usage). Under CNO direction of 31 Oct 1945 the surviving hulls were accepted on completion but, surplus to Navy needs, never commissioned, placed in caretaker status, and turned over to the War Shipping Administration/Maritime Commission for disposal. ATA-225 was accepted and delivered 7 Mar 1946 and stricken from the Naval Register 17 Apr 1946. Corroborated by NavSource ATA-225 page and the shipbuildinghistory.com Levingston yard table (hull 372, delivered 7-Mar-46).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- Levingston Shipbuilding construction workforce (Orange, TX, 1945-46); Navy caretaker/acceptance crews (brief, 1945-46)
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary source anchored in official records (NVR, BuShips, MC) - the underlying documents are not digitized (see archival-lead row). No DANFS entry exists for this unnamed, never-commissioned hull, so NHHC-level verification is unavailable. Contains no asbestos information; establishes identity and custody timeline only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ata-225-01
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[3]Shipscribe ATA-174 class notes and ship note 225; NavSource ATA-225 page (https://www.navsource.net/archives/09/38/38225.htm); shipbuildinghistory.com US Navy ocean tugs table and Levingston yard list (hull 372 'To USSR') [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipscribe ship note '225' and class notes paragraph 3; NavSource 38225 header line; shipbuildinghistory auxat.htm row ATA 225 and levingston.htm hull 372
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The disposition reported for ATA-225 conflicts across compilations. NavSource states 'transferred to the Soviet Union and redesignated MB-26'; shipbuildinghistory lists 'Sold 1946 to USSR as MB 44' (auxiliary tug table) / 'To USSR' (Levingston yard list). The shipscribe compilation - which documents Maritime Commission sales per-hull - instead records: 'Accepted and delivered 7 Mar 46. Sold (delivered) by MC to the Brazilian Navy Purchasing Office, Washington, D.C., as TRIUNFO. Deleted ca. 1986.' Shipscribe further notes that MB-26, 'reported in a Western source as formerly ATA-225, does not appear in an authoritative Russian source (Berezhnoy) and probably did not exist.' The two Soviet tugs that authoritative lists do confirm are MB-44/MB-24 (ex-ATA-221) and MB-43/MB-25 (ex-ATA-222).
- Verification
- disputed
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1946-1947 (disposal); 1947-1986 (claimed Brazilian service)
- Limitations
- Resolves the commonly repeated Soviet-transfer claim against authoritative Soviet-fleet data (Berezhnoy, via Roberts) and MC disposal records. Residual uncertainty: even accepting the documented Brazilian Navy Purchasing Office purchase, Brazilian records attribute the name TRIUNFO to ex-ATA-236 (see ev-uss-ata-225-03), so ATA-225's exact post-sale identity is unresolved - it may have been purchased for a non-named role or recorded under a different designation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ata-225-02
-
[4]Navios de Guerra Brasileiros (NGB, naval.com.br): 'RbAM Triunfo - R 3/R 23' page, citing Brazilian Navy incorporation Aviso n. 1737 of 16 Sep 1947; corroborating NGB pages Tritao R-21 (ex-ATA-234) and Tridente R-22 (ex-ATA-235); NavSource ATA-236 page with 1947 photograph captioned 'Ex-ATA-236 in Brazilian naval service as RbAM Triunfo (R-23)' [other_primary]
- Locator
- NGB pages T064 (Triunfo), T061 (Tritao), T056 (Tridente); NavSource 38236 photographs and caption
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Brazilian-side records identify the three Sotoyomo/ATA-174-class tugs incorporated into the Brazilian Navy on 16 Sep 1947 at Lake Charles, LA as Tritao R-21 (ex-ATA-234), Tridente R-22 (ex-ATA-235), and Triunfo R-3/R-23 (ex-ATA-236). NGB gives Triunfo's keel date as 10 Apr 1945 and acquisition as 22 Apr 1947 - matching ATA-236's documented keel (Gulfport Boiler & Welding, Port Arthur) and MC transfer dates, not ATA-225's (8 Mar 1945, Levingston, Orange). The trio arrived Rio de Janeiro 19 Nov 1947; Triunfo was decommissioned (baixa) 11 Oct 1985. This mapping contradicts shipscribe's 'ATA-225 as TRIUNFO' attribution and is the principal evidence that ATA-225's post-sale identity is unsettled.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1945-1985
- Population
- Brazilian Navy crews of the Tritao-class tugs (1947-1985)
- Limitations
- NGB is a Brazilian naval-history compilation citing official records (Aviso 1737); it is not itself an official document, and the Brazilian Navy's official DPHDM historical repository holds no Triunfo historico as of research date. This evidence concerns the sister-hull mapping; it does not directly document ATA-225's own fate. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ata-225-03
-
[5]Fleischer WE, Viles FJ Jr, Gade RL, Drinker P, 'A health survey of pipe covering operations in constructing naval vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol 28:9-16 (Jan 1946); PMID 21016030 [other_primary]
- Locator
- PMID 21016030; full text of the paper's 'Pipe Covering Material' section
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A contemporaneous U.S. Navy-contracted industrial health survey (fieldwork at two government Navy yards and two Navy contract yards during WWII construction) found that 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels is amosite' (asbestos), and that 'much asbestos cloth and asbestos cement were likewise used'; 3 of 1,074 X-rayed pipe coverers showed asbestosis, all with >20 years in the trade. ATA-225 was built in 1945 under a Navy contract program at a private Gulf Coast yard to the standard Navy BAT-1 design, squarely within the documented era and construction practice.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Pipe coverers/insulators at WWII Navy contract yards (1943-1945 survey era)
- Limitations
- Era/class documentation - the study does not name this hull, class, or the Levingston yard, and surveyed pipe-covering shop and shipboard installation work, not the ATA-225 contract specifically. The BAT-1 design is diesel-electric with no boilers or steam mains, so its thermal-insulation scope was materially smaller than a steam vessel's; extrapolating specific asbestos products or locations aboard this hull is inference. Does not establish quantity, individual exposure, or present-day presence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ata-225-04
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[6]Levingston Ship Building Co. v. Pelaez, 312 F. App'x 711 (5th Cir. 2009) (No. 08-60206, decided 6 Mar 2009; Smith, Barksdale, Prado JJ.) - petition for review of a Benefits Review Board order DENIED; LHWCA death benefits payable by TPCIGA as insurer of the defunct yard [court_record]
- Locator
- 312 F. App'x 711 (5th Cir. 2009), No. 08-60206; facts recited in the order's background. Opinion text verified via published-report mirrors; stable CourtListener opinion URL pending (fleet API quota throttled this session)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- A published (nonprecedential) Fifth Circuit disposition documents asbestos exposure at the builder yard: decedent Paul Pelaez 'worked for Levingston as a ship fitter in the 1960s and early 1970s, where he was exposed to asbestos,' dying of that exposure in 2002. This establishes that the builder yard (Levingston Shipbuilding, Orange, TX - closed 1985, insurer insolvent) had adjudicated asbestos-exposure conditions.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 2009 (opinion); 1960s-1970s (exposure period)
- Population
- Levingston shipyard workforce (1960s-1970s era documented)
- Limitations
- Yard-level litigation context only - the documented exposure period (1960s-1970s) postdates ATA-225's 1945-46 construction by two decades and does not evidence conditions aboard this hull or during its construction. Nonprecedential F. App'x disposition: petition for review DENIED, leaving the BRB award in place - an outcome unfavorable to the insurer, not an exposure finding for any vessel. Does not establish or defeat any claim tied to ATA-225.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ata-225-05
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[7]Batch-2899 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC (no entry exists for unnamed uncommissioned hull); Naval Vessel Register (hull predates public NVR coverage); NavSource ATA-225 page and class index; shipscribe ATA-174 class file; shipbuildinghistory Levingston yard list and auxtug table; NGB Brazilian tug pages; Brazilian Navy DPHDM repository; CourtListener opinion/docket search [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-ata-225-01 through sl-uss-ata-225-11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, museum documentation, or docketed case naming ATA-225 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was never commissioned and left U.S. government custody within ~14 months of launch, so there was no operational U.S. Navy crew population aboard.
- 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 1945-built naval tug would be era-consistent with asbestos materials, and Brazilian-era (if applicable) modification/hazmat records are not digitized. The CourtListener hull-number sweep returned a fleet-quota throttle during this session; the litigation absence conclusion rests on the name/class searches completed and should be re-run when quota is available.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ata-225-06
-
[8]Archival leads (unretrieved): NARA RG 19 (Bureau of Ships records - ATA-class building specifications, contract plans for Levingston hull 372); NARA RG 178 (U.S. Maritime Commission records - vessel status/sale cards, would resolve the Brazilian-purchase identity); Brazilian Navy DPHDM archive (Triunfo-class ship records); Berezhnoy Soviet-fleet list (S.S. Berezhnoy compilations) for the MB-26 question [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA RG 19 (ships' plans/specifications) and RG 178 (MC vessel records); repositoriodphdm.marinha.mil.br
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Unresolved items have identifiable archival homes: (1) BuShips ATA-174-class specifications and the ATA-219-238 contract file would establish as-built materials scope including insulation; (2) the MC sale file for the 7-9 May 1947 delivery to the Brazilian Navy Purchasing Office would settle whether ATA-225 was delivered as a named tug (TRIUNFO), as spares, or for another disposition - the record that reconciles shipscribe against NGB/NavSource; (3) Brazilian Navy service records for the Tritao-class trio would confirm which hulls were incorporated 16 Sep 1947.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Limitations
- Leads only - none of these repositories was queried in this batch; locating the MC sale file is the single most valuable next step. No asbestos content asserted or implied.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ata-225-07