Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]ShipScribe, 'USS ATR-1 Class' register compilation - per-hull construction and disposition tables compiled from official Navy vessel register and Maritime Commission sale records [other_primary]
- Locator
- ATR-1 class page, construction table row 77 and disposition table row 77 plus per-hull notes
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Register data for ATR-77 within the ATR-1 class table: ordered 1942-11-27; built by Camden Ship Building & Marine Railway (Camden SB), Camden, ME; keel laid 1943-05-15; launched 1944-08-01; commissioned 1944-11-03. Disposition row: decommissioned 1946-07-10; stricken 1946-10-08; Maritime Commission disposal (MC/D) 1947-10-09, noted 'Sold (delivered) by MC to Fordom [Fordham] Trading Co., New York.' Class block: design Navy ATR-1; 852 t light / 1,315 t max; 165.4' oa x 33.3' x 15.8'; armament 1-3"/50, 2-20mm; complement 51 (1944); 1,600 HP, 1 screw, vertical triple expansion.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- Construction trades (Camden, ME, 1943-44); wartime crew
- Limitations
- ShipScribe is a disciplined secondary compilation of official register/MC records, not a digitized original government document; construction dates are corroborated by NavSource's independent compilation, while the decommission/strike/MC-sale dates are single-source (ShipScribe). NavSource dates decommission/strike as 'unknown' and dates the MC sale 'circa 1945-46' - the 1947-10-09 sale date here is the register record and conflicts with NavSource/shipbuildinghistory. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-77-01
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[2]HyperWar (ibiblio), 'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945 - AT: Tugs' roster (transcription of official Navy ship data) [other_primary]
- Locator
- ships-at.html, 'ATR -- Rescue Tugs' section, roster row ATR-77 and class header
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The HyperWar transcription of 'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945' lists ATR-77 in commission during 1943-45 under 'ATR -- Rescue Tugs', characterized as 'Wooden-hulled Rescue Tugs, built to patrol convoy lanes' with triple-expansion reciprocating steam engines, single screw, 1,600 hp.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Limitations
- Confirms the hull's existence, designation, commission-era window, and the wooden-hulled steam-plant character of its class. A compiled roster, not a hull survey; the wooden-hull description applies to the class, not a hull-specific survey finding. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-77-02
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[3]National Museum of the Pacific War, Oral History Interview with D. L. Misenhimer, February 14, 2008 (collection digitized on The Portal to Texas History, University of North Texas; indexed abstract at exa.ai) [museum_official]
- Locator
- Oral history record abstract (catalog summary); Portal to Texas History hosts the interview file (interactive access required - automated fetch blocked by challenge)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official-museum oral history: D. L. Misenhimer, interviewed 2008-02-14 by the National Museum of the Pacific War, states he was assigned in Maine to boiler-room and engine-room duty aboard the seagoing salvage tug ATR-77; the ship towed aviation-gas barges to Eniwetok, Okinawa, and the Philippines, pulled LSTs off the beach and ran picket lines during the Okinawa invasion, towed kamikaze-damaged ships to dry dock, transported Japanese prisoners, and then spent months cleaning up the harbor at Yokosuka, Japan. Misenhimer was discharged August 1946.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-1946 (service); 2008 (interview)
- Population
- Crewman, boiler room / engine room duty
- Limitations
- Primary-source crew testimony that a crewman worked this hull's boiler and engine rooms - relevant to machinery-space exposure pathways - but the interview contains no asbestos statement. Oral recollection recorded ~63 years after events; the abstract's claim that the tug towed kamikaze-damaged 'USS Ward (DD-139) and a hospital ship' is inconsistent with Ward's documented loss at Ormoc on 1944-12-07 (before ATR-77 reached the Pacific) and is not adopted as fact. Canonical Portal ark URL not retrieved; catalog abstract relied on.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-77-03
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[4]US Navy and Marine Corps Museum / National Naval Aviation Museum photo 1996.438.046 (displayed and described via NavSource Service Ship Photo Archive, ATR-77 page) [museum_official]
- Locator
- NavSource ATR-77 page, second image row; photo credit US Navy and Marine Corps Museum/Naval Aviation Museum #1996.438.046
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- An official U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Museum / National Naval Aviation Museum photograph (catalog no. 1996.438.046) shows USS ATR-77 washing down the aft port quarter of the captured Japanese battleship IJNS Nagato at anchor, probably at Yokosuka Naval Base soon after cessation of hostilities in 1945 - consistent with the hull's documented occupation service (1945-10-01 to 1945-12-01).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1945
- Limitations
- The photograph and its caption are the official museum artifact; the NavSource page is only the display/access path - the museum catalog record itself was not independently retrieved. Supports the Yokosuka occupation-service record only; no asbestos or condition-survey content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-77-04
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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 scholarship documents that asbestos was used extensively as insulation and fireproofing in U.S. shipbuilding during WWII - the era and program under which this 1943-44 wooden-hulled steam rescue tug was built - and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization aboard naval and merchant-type 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 was not installed aboard this wooden-hulled hull, nor quantity, location, exposure, or causation. Wooden construction reduces (does not eliminate) the plausible scope versus steel combatants; machinery-space insulation, gaskets, and packing remain the plausible era applications.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-77-05
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[6]Batch-3006 CourtListener sweep via cl-auth-search.py (authenticated, API v4), 2026-09-26 [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-atr-77-07 through sl-uss-atr-77-10
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener API v4 authenticated sweeps (opinions and RECAP dockets) returned no qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull: '"ATR-77"' opinions returned 1 hit (People v. Palmer, 80 Cal. App. 3d 239 (1978), a criminal appeal - name collision); '"ATR-77"' dockets returned 3 hits (Burgess v. Baltimore Police Department, civil rights; two Stolt-Nielsen FOIA dockets - the string appears in exhibit/Bates material, name collisions); '"USS ATR-77"', '"ATR 77" tug', and '"ATR-77" asbestos' opinion queries returned zero.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 2026-09-26
- Limitations
- Absence of a docketed case is not absence of exposure - the hull sank roughly at the end of government custody and had a short service life, which limits the litigation surface. Collision hits are catalogued at their actual type (criminal appeal; civil rights; FOIA), none asbestos.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-77-06
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[7]Batch-3006 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS index; NARA catalog.archives.gov; MARAD vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov; NPS; National Museum of the Pacific War / Portal to Texas History; CourtListener [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-atr-77-01 through sl-uss-atr-77-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no DANFS entry exists for this unnamed auxiliary; no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or vessel condition survey was found in the sources searched (NHHC/DANFS, NARA online catalog, MARAD ShipHistory, NPS, museum collections - see search_ledger).
- 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 - era steam auxiliaries commonly carried asbestos insulation and gaskets. The hull's loss (sunk, Calcasieu River) forecloses any present-day survey. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-atr-77-07