Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive, USS ATR-32 (file 09/40/40032) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource USS ATR-32 page, ship data block and specifications
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- USS ATR-32, ATR-1 class rescue tug: laid down 1942-09-07 at Northwest Shipbuilding Co., South Bellingham, WA; launched 1943-07-18; commissioned 1944-01-19 at South Bellingham, LTjg. Clem R. Oliver Jr., USN, in command; assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater for WWII service. Specs: 852 t light / 1,315 t full; 165'6" x 33'4" x 15'6"; 12.2 kts; 1x3"/50 DP, 2x20mm AA; complement 5 officers, 47 enlisted; one Fulton Iron Works vertical triple-expansion steam engine, two 'D'-type boilers 200 psi, single screw 1,600 shp. Awards: American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal. NavSource lists decommissioned/struck dates unknown and 'disposed of in 1946, fate unknown.' No DANFS history exists for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- Ship's company (52 per this source)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a compiled secondary index of official records (NVR-derived), not itself a primary document; it gives decommissioning, striking, and disposal only as 'unknown'/'disposed of in 1946' where the NVR-derived shipscribe table supplies precise dates. Contains no asbestos, materials, or condition-survey information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-32-atr32-01
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[2]shipscribe.com (Shipbuilding History / NVR compilations), USS ATR-1 Class construction and disposition tables [other_primary]
- Locator
- Construction table row 32 and Disposition table row 32 (Decomm./Strike/Disposal/Fate/MA Sale)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- ATR-1 class contract and disposition tables (compiled from Naval Vessel Register / Maritime Commission records): ATR-32 ordered 1942-06-27; builder 'Northwestern, Bellingham'; keel 1942-09-07; launched 1943-07-18; commissioned 1944-01-19; decommissioned 1946-08-08; struck 1946-09-25; disposed via Maritime Commission 1947-10-02 (fate code MC/D); Maritime Administration sale 1947-10-02.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Limitations
- Compiled from NVR/MC status-card data; the underlying MARAD vessel status card for this hull was not retrieved (MARAD ShipHistory search errored - see search_ledger). Identity dates agree with NavSource where NavSource supplies them; decommission/strike/disposal precision exceeds NavSource. Contains no asbestos information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-32-atr32-02
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[3]NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive, USS Tatoosh (YAG-1) (file 14/2001) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource USS Tatoosh (YAG-1) page, Final Disposition line naming ATR-32
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Ship-specific operational record: the NavSource history of USS Tatoosh (YAG-1) records that the stripped, dry-rot-infested YAG-1 was 'loaded with old ammunition, towed by ATR-32 to a point 10 miles north of Adak and scuttled, 29 September 1945' - documenting ATR-32 on station and towing in the Aleutians in late September 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- Tug crew during ammunition-laden tow/scuttle evolution (Aleutians, 1945)
- Limitations
- Single-event operational record hosted on the scuttled vessel's page, not ATR-32's own log; places the tug at Adak 1945-09-29 but reveals nothing about the rest of her itinerary. Contains no asbestos information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-32-atr32-03
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[4]shipscribe.com (Shipbuilding History), USS ATR-1 Class Notes; corroborated by HyperWar 'US Navy Tugs, 1940-45' ATR class table (wooden-hulled) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Class Notes paragraphs on BuShips letter, CNO directives, wood construction decision; HyperWar https://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/ships-at.html
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- ATR-1 class design context: the rescue-tug program was directed by CNO 1942-01-19 (ATR 1-40) and 1942-08-05 (ATR 50-89) under the Maximum War Effort (1799-Vessel) Program; to minimize competition with the main Navy shipbuilding effort the vessels were deliberately built of wood with 'relatively simple triple expansion steam machinery' by small shipbuilders; design attributed (per one source cited by shipscribe) to the John G. Alden firm; 80 wooden ATRs were completed; wooden construction later judged vulnerable to tropical shipworm in the Pacific.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1941-1945
- Limitations
- Class-level design history; establishes hull material (wood) and machinery type for the class this hull belongs to, but is not a hull record. Note conflict: the Canadian-registry-compiled nauticapedia entry lists this hull's material as 'Steel' - class-level sources uniformly describe the ATR-1 type as wooden; conflict carried in gaps. No asbestos content stated.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-32-atr32-04
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[5]Washington State Dept. of Ecology, Harris Avenue Shipyard cleanup site (Site ID 193) - site page, Agreed Order findings of fact, Cleanup Action Plan; Port of Bellingham, 'Northwest Shipbuilding Company' port-history page [other_primary]
- Locator
- Ecology cleanup-site 193 page + Agreed Order DE 19450 findings + CAP document 98466; https://www.portofbellingham.com/949/Northwest-Shipbuilding-Company
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- The builder's yard is a state cleanup site: Northwest/Northwestern Shipbuilding Co. operated 1942-1944 at 201 Harris Avenue, Fairhaven (South Bellingham), on the Pacific American Fisheries property - now the Harris Avenue Shipyard cleanup site under Washington's Model Toxics Control Act. Ecology supervises; the Port of Bellingham is the potentially liable person; a 2025 consent decree requires implementation of the Cleanup Action Plan (~5 acres upland, ~5 acres marine sediment). Documented contaminants are metals (copper, zinc), PCBs, PAHs (incl. 1-methylnaphthalene), and petroleum compounds. Port of Bellingham history: the company formed for WWII military construction, spent ~$150,000 enlarging the 12-acre yard (marine railway, 11 shipways, machine shop, Harris Avenue Pier), employed up to ~1,000, and built at least 25 ships.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1944 (operations); 1993-2025 (cleanup record)
- Population
- Shipyard construction workforce (~1,000 wartime employees per Port of Bellingham)
- Limitations
- Yard-site environmental record only - documents land/sediment contamination at the builder's site, not materials aboard this hull. Asbestos is NOT among the listed site contaminants in the documents reviewed; nothing here establishes or suggests shipboard asbestos on ATR-32.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-32-atr32-05
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[6]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); machinery specs per NavSource/shipscribe class data [other_primary]
- Locator
- AJIM 11(3):359-373 (program/era-level scholarship); propulsion specs per ev-01/ev-02
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Class/era inference for this hull type: the ATR-1 class is a wooden-hulled vessel with a conventional WWII steam plant (vertical triple-expansion engine; two 'D'-type water-tube boilers at 200 psi). Peer-reviewed scholarship documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during WWII. For this hull type the era-consistent asbestos applications would have concentrated in the machinery spaces - boiler and steam-drum insulation, steam-line lagging, valve and flange gaskets, and machinery packing - rather than in hull structure.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1946
- Population
- Construction trades (South Bellingham, 1942-44); engine-room crew (wartime)
- Limitations
- Era- and design-level inference only - no source names this hull, and no insulation schedule, material list, or survey for ATR-32 was located. Does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, individual exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-32-atr32-06
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[7]shipindex.org vessel record A.T.R.32; nauticapedia.ca (Nauticapedia / Maritime Museum of B.C. project) vessel file, Pacmar / ex-ATR-32 (ON 179480) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipindex.org/ships/a_t_r_32 summary line; nauticapedia.ca dbase record id=42818 (page fetch 403 this pass - data via index summary and nauticapedia converted-vessels tables)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Post-Navy registry trail: shipindex.org and nauticapedia.ca (registry-compiled maritime databases) record this hull as Canadian official number 179480, renamed Pacmar c.1950, owned 1950 by Pacific Drydock Co., North Vancouver, BC; nauticapedia lists 'In 1946 she was sold' and hull material 'Steel.' Ultimate fate not recorded.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1947-c.1950+
- Limitations
- Registry-compiled secondary data, not viewed at the Canadian registry source. Internal conflicts: 'sold 1946' vs shipscribe's documented MC/MA sale 1947-10-02, and hull 'Steel' vs the wooden-hulled ATR-1 class design - the latter is likely a registry-field error but is unresolved. No asbestos information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-32-atr32-07
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[8]CourtListener API v4 opinion and RECAP docket searches for 'ATR-32' / 'ATR 32' + asbestos (2026-09-26); Batch-2966 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS/site search; NavSource; shipscribe; WA Ecology; Port of Bellingham; nauticapedia/shipindex; general web litigation search [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-atr-32-atr32-01 through sl-uss-atr-32-atr32-10
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific record located: no DANFS entry exists for this unnamed hull; no asbestos survey, abatement contract, museum or hazmat disclosure, or docketed asbestos case naming ATR-32 was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener (authenticated API v4, via fleet helper): 'ATR-32' opinion search = 0 results; 'ATR 32' + asbestos opinion search = 0 results; 'ATR-32' docket search = 8 hits, all name collisions (six SEC v. Larmore receivership dockets, one National Wildlife Federation v. Army Corps FOIA docket, one prisoner civil-rights docket with OCR-noise match) - none maritime, none asbestos, none naming the vessel. A general web search for the hull plus asbestos/mesothelioma terms returned no qualifying litigation.
- 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 - WWII steam auxiliaries are era-consistent with asbestos insulation in machinery spaces. CourtListener coverage caveat: opinion/docket index only; PACER-only complaints and state-court filings naming the hull may exist outside it. One remaining query variant ('USS ATR-32') was budget-paced and not run; marginal given the 0-result exact-hull hits. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-32-atr32-08