Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive, USS ATR-38 page (archives/09/40/40038.htm) [other_primary]
- Locator
- ATR-38 hull entry: chronology block, campaign table, specifications block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- ATR-1-class rescue tug: laid down 28 July 1943 at Lynch Shipbuilding, San Diego, CA; launched 22 May 1944; commissioned USS ATR-38, 15 November 1944, LT. P. W. Dodson, USN, in command. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, Service Squadron Two; participated in the Okinawa Gunto operation (assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 18 April to 30 June 1945); assigned to Occupation Service in the Far East 2 September to 2 December 1945; decommissioned (NavSource lists date unknown); struck from the Naval Register 17 April 1946; disposed of in 1946, fate unknown. Earned one battle star for WWII service. Class specifications carried on the hull page: displacement 852 t. light / 1,315 t. full; length 165'6"; beam 33'4"; draft 15'6"; speed 12.2 kts; largest boom capacity 4 t.; armament one 3"/50 dual-purpose mount and two single 20mm AA mounts; complement 5 officers / 47 enlisted; propulsion one Lynch Shipbuilding vertical triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine, two Foster Wheeler 'D'-type boilers (200 psi, saturated), two 60 kW 120V DC turbo-drive ship's-service generators, single propeller, 1,600 shp.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-maintained secondary compilation transcribing official Navy records, not itself a primary registry - the page explicitly states no DANFS history exists for ATR-38 at the Naval Historical Center. Milestones corroborated independently by shipscribe (contract/build/disposal tables) and shipbuildinghistory (Lynch yard list). Specification block is class-level data carried on the hull page; complement figure differs from other compilations (see gaps). No asbestos, materials, or condition information. Supports identity/history only - no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-38-atr38-01
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[2]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (NHHC), 'Narraguagas (AOG-32)' entry - names ATR-38 as a member of Task Unit 30.9.23, Leyte to Okinawa, 8 June 1945 [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Narraguagas (AOG-32) DANFS entry, 1944-1946 section, TU 30.9.23 passage
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NHHC DANFS entry for Narraguagas (AOG-32) documents ATR-38 in wartime service: after refueling operations off Leyte (1-7 June 1945), Narraguagas 'sailed for Okinawa late in the morning watch on 8 June, as part of TU 30.9.23, Lt. Cmdr. Eugene G. Sheasby, D-V(G), USNR, commanding the fleet tug Tolowa (ATF-116) as OTC and commander, screen. Other ships included Tolowa's sister ship Jicarilla (ATF-104), towing BRL-3071, the rescue tugs ATR-38 and ATR-62, the harbor tugs (big) Washakie (YTB-386) and Canuck (YTB-379); two submarine chasers, SC-1315 and SC-1360, served as escorts for the task unit.' Narraguagas arrived in the Ryukyus 13 June 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1945-06
- Population
- ATR-38 crew (approx. 5 officers / 47 enlisted per class spec)
- Limitations
- Official NHHC source naming this hull in a documented operation - places ATR-38 in the Leyte-to-Okinawa movement arriving the Ryukyus ~13 June 1945, inside its credited Okinawa Gunto campaign window. Caveats: (a) the live history.navy.mil URL returned HTTP 404 to automated fetch on 2026-09-26 (the standing NHHC link-rot issue logged in BATCH-01); the quoted passage was verified via the current search index of the official URL - the December 2024 Wayback capture contains an older version of the entry that lacks the task-unit passage, so the entry was updated after 2024; (b) single operational mention only - no asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-38-atr38-02
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[3]Shipscribe.com U.S. Navy auxiliaries vessel register, USS ATR-1 class page (ATR01.html) - construction, disposition, and subsequent-history tables [other_primary]
- Locator
- ATR-1 class page: Construction table row 38; Disposition table row 38; Subsequent History table row 38; class notes (wood construction decision, program dates)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Shipscribe ATR-1 class vessel-register compilation: ATR-38 ordered/contracted 6 July 1942 (FY 1942 program - CNO directed construction of ATR 1-40 on 19 January 1942 under the Navy's Maximum War Effort (1,799-vessel) Program); builder Lynch Shipbuilding; keel laid 28 July 1943; launched 22 May 1944; commissioned 15 November 1944. Disposition table: decommissioned 19 March 1946; struck 17 April 1946; disposal 22 November 1946, fate 'MC/D' (Maritime Commission disposal), Maritime Administration sale 22 November 1946. Subsequent-history table: 'Sold (delivered) by MC to A. K. Wilson Lumber Co., Los Angeles, Cal.' - no mercantile rename recorded (unlike sisters ATR-37/BEAVER, ATR-59/MYRTLE E. WILSON).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1946
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation of official Navy register/contract data (Tim Colton's shipscribe), consistent with NavSource on all overlapping milestones and supplying the decommission date (19 Mar 1946) and MC disposal detail that NavSource lacks. The buyer detail traces to Maritime Commission sales records but was not checked against the original MC documentation. No asbestos or materials information - supports identity/disposal only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-38-atr38-03
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[4]Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels (wartime) as transcribed at HyperWar 'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945 - AT Tugs' (ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/ships-at.html); shipscribe ATR-1 class notes (design and construction-material decisions, BuShips 12 Sep 1941 letter requirements); NavSource ATR-38 specification block (boiler/engine fit aboard this hull) [other_primary]
- Locator
- HyperWar ATR section header (wooden-hulled class description, class specs); shipscribe class notes paragraphs 2-3; NavSource ATR-38 propulsion block
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Class/design documentation of the plant and hull type aboard this hull: the ATR-1 class were wooden-hulled rescue tugs (wartime Ships' Data summary: 'Wooden-hulled Rescue Tugs, built to patrol convoy lanes'; shipscribe class notes: the Navy decided to build the rescue tugs of wood with relatively simple triple-expansion steam machinery so small shipbuilders and local machine shops could execute them, possibly to a John G. Alden design). The hull's documented plant - two Foster Wheeler 'D'-type boilers (200 psi saturated) driving a vertical triple-expansion steam engine (1,600 shp) - is the machinery type on which WWII-era thermal insulation, gaskets, packing, and insulation felts were applied. Wooden hull construction removes the hull-surface fireproofing/insulation scope typical of steel combatants but leaves machinery-space insulation intact; class features (towing engine/winch machinery per the BuShips rescue-tug requirements) are consistent with era brake-lining and friction-material use. Insulation products of this era were commonly manufactured with asbestos fiber.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Construction trades (Lynch Shipbuilding, San Diego, 1943-44); engine-room and boiler crew in service 1944-46
- Limitations
- Class/design documentation, not a hull asbestos record - no source located states 'asbestos' for this vessel or even for the class. The inference chain is: documented plant type (boilers + triple-expansion steam) aboard this hull + documented era practice for such plants. Does not establish that asbestos was installed, its quantity, location, or present-day presence; wooden construction reduces hull-insulation scope relative to steel vessels. Does not establish or defeat any exposure claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-38-atr38-04
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[5]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 wooden-hulled rescue tug was built (contract 1942, commissioned 1944) - and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization aboard naval and merchant-type hulls, including small craft built by minor yards.
- 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, this class, or Lynch Shipbuilding, 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-atr-38-atr38-05
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[6]National Archives and Records Administration, Special List #44: 'List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units' (ship-number section), archives.gov [other_primary]
- Locator
- SL-44 ship-number index, ATR sequence: 'ATR-38 11/15/1944 6/30/1945' (adjacent entries corroborate format: ATR-37 9/20/1944-6/30/1945, ATR-39 1/10/1945-6/30/1945 - ranges opening at each hull's commissioning date)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival lead (index verified, contents unretrieved): NARA Special List 44 (Navy deck logs by ship number) indexes deck logs for ATR-38 covering 15 November 1944 - 30 June 1945 (commissioning through mid-1945, the Okinawa period). Logs for July 1945 - March 1946 (occupation service, inactivation, decommissioning) fall in a later segment not covered by that list. Related record paths: RG 24 deck logs; RG 19 (Bureau of Ships) contract/outfitting plans for the ATR-1 design; Maritime Commission disposal records for the 22 November 1946 sale (RG 178/RG 357 series).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1944-1946 records
- Limitations
- Index-level verification only - the logbook entries' existence is indexed; contents were not retrieved and digitization status of this hull's logs on the NARA catalog was not confirmed (catalog API unresponsive to automated fetch). Deck logs record operations and personnel, not materials - they would document where the ship was and when, not whether asbestos was aboard. RG 19/RG 178/RG 357 paths are record-group mappings only; no box-level retrieval performed and no spend authorized.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-38-atr38-06
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[7]Batch-2972 search ledger (this record): CourtListener API v4 opinion and docket searches; NavSource ATR-38 page (DANFS-absence statement); vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov; nvr.navy.mil [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-atr-38-atr38-04 through sl-uss-atr-38-atr38-09
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or litigation naming the ATR-38 hull was found in the public sources searched. Specifically: (a) no DANFS entry exists for ATR-38 - NavSource's explicit statement, consistent with NHHC practice of not covering unnamed numbered auxiliaries; (b) CourtListener authenticated searches on 2026-09-26 returned zero opinion results for '"ATR-38"', '"USS ATR-38"', and '"ATR-38" OR "ATR 38"', and the docket search for '"ATR-38"' returned 4 hits all classified as name collisions (a 2020 E.D. Pa. bankruptcy, a 2011 S.D.N.Y. criminal case, a 2010 D. Del. bankruptcy schedules filing, and a 2021 S.D. Tex. habeas petition - 'ATR-38' appears as form/OCR codes, none reference a vessel); (c) MARAD ShipHistory has no record under this hull designation (vessel passed through Maritime Commission disposal before the period the database covers); (d) Naval Vessel Register has no entry (NVR excludes vessels disposed of before 1987).
- 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 1943-44 steam-driven hull is era-consistent with asbestos-containing machinery insulation and fittings. The hull left government custody in 1946 and its post-sale fate is undocumented, so no modern survey could be expected. Does not establish presence or absence; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-38-atr38-07