Evidence
12 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-12).
-
[1]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), 'Avery Island (AG-76)' - transcription mirror (hazegray); same text mirrored at ibiblio hyperwar [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Full DANFS entry; mirror https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/AG/AG-76_AveryIsland.html
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS documents the hull's full chronology: laid down 1944-10-31 under Maritime Commission contract (MCE hull 3085) at South Portland, ME by New England Shipbuilding Corp. (type EC2-S-C1); launched 1944-12-13 (sponsor Mrs. Robert LeBourdais); acquired by the Navy and commissioned 1944-12-21 (LCDR J. H. Graves, Jr.); out of commission 1944-12-24 at Atlantic Basin Iron Works, Brooklyn, for conversion; recommissioned 1945-07-31 at New York Navy Yard; shakedown Chesapeake Bay, yard availability at Norfolk; reported 1945-09-06 to Service Force, Atlantic; Pacific transit via Panama Canal (1945-09-15) and Pearl Harbor (10-14); embarked Navy personnel to Tokyo (until 11-18); San Francisco 12-07 and overhaul at Hunters Point; sailed 1946-05-06 for Operation Crossroads as a unit of Joint Task Force 1, entered Bikini lagoon 06-01 for instrumentation tests; returned San Francisco 08-21, San Pedro 10-03, 19th Fleet; steamed to Santa Cruz Basin 11-13 for radiological decontamination; out of commission in reserve 1947-05-26 at San Pedro; redesignated AKS-24 1951-08-18; transferred to Maritime Administration 1960-01-04 and subsequently sold for scrapping. DANFS header: dp. 11,500; l. 441'6"; b. 56'; dr. 24'4"; s. 12.5 k.; cpl. 878; a. 1 5", 4 40mm., 12 20mm.; cl. Basilan; T. EC2-S-C1.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1944-1960
- Population
- Ship's company (rated complement 878); embarked technical personnel (Crossroads)
- Limitations
- Establishes identity, construction, conversion, service, and disposal chronology. Contains no asbestos, insulation-material, or condition-survey statement - supports no asbestos claim. Canonical NHHC page 404s (standing NHHC link-rot issue from batch-01); hazegray transcription and ibiblio hyperwar mirror carry identical text.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-01
-
[2]U.S. Maritime Administration, ShipHistory database - AVERY ISLAND (AG-76/AKS-24), Ship History Detail 5685, incl. digitized vessel status card [marad_nrc]
- Locator
- ShipHistory Detail 5685 milestone table; status card scan at /cards/e31ade28-d0d7-49b5-9e09-bb315d5ca14c.png and document PDF /documents/8c7f0da5-a0da-44e1-b732-24d2321bc49a.pdf
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- MARAD record: U.S. Official No. 245223; MARAD type EC2-S-C1; built New England Shipbuilding Corporation (year built shown as 1945); fate 'Sold - Scrap.' The digitized status card records redelivery/transfer from Navy Dep't to Mar. Administration 1960-12-05 11:30 AM PST at San Diego, and purchase by Hugo Neu Steel Products Inc. 1960-12-05 11:00 AM PST at San Diego - the documented scrapping-sale custody event.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1944-1967
- Limitations
- Authoritative for government custody milestones and the 1960 sale. Status-card handwriting is partially legible (OCR-aided). The database milestone table separately lists 'Disposition' and 'Withdrawl' as 1967-01-19 - inconsistent with the card's 12-5-1960 sale events and unexplained (carried in gaps). Contains no asbestos, materials, or condition information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-02
-
[3]Defense Nuclear Agency, 'Operation CROSSROADS - 1946,' DNA 6032F (May 1984), DTIC accession ADA146562 - Appendix A ship-activity summary and JTF-1 organization [other_primary]
- Locator
- DNA 6032F, JTF-1 organization figure (TU 1.1.2 roster), Electronics Group narrative, and Appendix A 'USS Avery Island (AG-76)' ship block; mirror also at sonicbomb.com/content/atomic/docs/dna/1946_DNA6032F_CROSSROADS.pdf
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- The official DNA retrospective lists USS Avery Island (AG-76) as a support ship in Task Unit 1.1.2 (Instrumentation Unit) of Task Group 1.1, furnishing laboratory and base facilities for the Instrumentation Unit and Electronics Group (the Electronics Group was berthed aboard; USS Coasters Harbor, AG-74, served as its electronics repair ship); the ship aided still photography, telemetering equipment for measuring ionized clouds, and infrared measurement on target vessels. Appendix A ship block: crew size 483; Bikini arrival spring 1946; Bikini departure 1946-08-07 for San Francisco; positioned ~15 nmi in the staging area for both shots; decontamination location San Francisco; operational clearance 1946-12-03; final clearance by 1947-01-04. Post-BAKER radioactivity delayed inspections until mid-August; on 1946-08-07 the Electronics Group Target Inspection Section was reberthed aboard USS Fulton (AS-11) and Avery Island returned to the U.S. with most Electronics Group personnel.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1946-05 to 1947-01
- Population
- Ship's crew (483 at Bikini) plus berthed Electronics Group/instrumentation personnel
- Limitations
- Official ship-level participation and radiological-clearance record. Documents radiological operations and clearance dates, not asbestos; does not document contamination levels aboard this hull specifically beyond crew dose reconstruction (see ev-04). OCR of the scanned text is imperfect ('194?' for final-clearance year read as 1947 from context). DTIC direct PDF is bot-blocked (HTTP 403); archive.org mirror of the DTIC scan used.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-03
-
[4]Defense Nuclear Agency, 'Operation CROSSROADS - 1946,' DNA 6032F (May 1984), DTIC accession ADA146562 - Table 31 dose reconstruction and contractor-personnel exposure accounting [other_primary]
- Locator
- DNA 6032F Table 31 (support-ship dose reconstruction); contractor/institution exposure section (Princeton, Raytheon entries)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- Table 31 ('Reconstructed (calculated) dose for support ship crews, CROSSROADS') lists USS Avery Island (AG-76): 483 personnel; Bikini departure 1946-08-07 with reconstructed dose 0.147 rem gamma; clearance December 1946 with total reconstructed dose 0.260 rem gamma. The report's institutional accounting lists five Princeton University personnel assigned to Avery Island (two badged, highest reading 0.10 R) and eight Raytheon personnel aboard attached to the Electronics Coordinating Officer staff (all badged, highest reading 0.35 R).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1946
- Population
- 483 crew at Bikini; embarked Princeton (5) and Raytheon (8) technical personnel
- Limitations
- Reconstructed (modeled) whole-crew gamma doses, not individual film-badge records; figures are subject to the report's stated data caveats and revision. Radiological hazard only - no asbestos content. Table column values read from OCR of the scanned report; minor OCR uncertainty on decimals.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-04
-
[5]DANFS 'Avery Island (AG-76)' (radiological decontamination passage); corroborating U.S. Navy photo caption (Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum via NavSource) describing Avery Island at Hunters Point for Bikini-test decontamination [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS entry final paragraph; DNA 6032F Appendix A ship block; NavSource AG-76 photo archive caption (navsource.org/archives/09/49/49076.htm)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- DANFS records that after Crossroads the ship 'steamed to Santa Cruz Basin on 13 November [1946] to undergo radiological decontamination before beginning deactivation procedures.' DNA 6032F Appendix A lists the decontamination location as San Francisco with operational clearance 1946-12-03 and final clearance by 1947-01-04; a U.S. Navy photograph caption (Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum collection, via NavSource) places Safeguard and Avery Island 'at the yard' - Hunters Point - for decontamination from the Bikini tests. Sources document a phased post-test radiological cleanup at California sites.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1946-11 to 1947-01
- Population
- Decontamination crews; ship's crew during deactivation
- Limitations
- Documents that the hull underwent radiological decontamination and formal clearance - a hazardous-materials handling event, but radiological, not asbestos. Sources differ in emphasis (DANFS: Santa Cruz Basin, November; DNA: San Francisco, December-January clearance; museum caption: Hunters Point yard) - consistent with phased cleanup rather than contradictory, but the full sequence is not itemized in one source. No statement on residual contamination outcome or asbestos.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-05
-
[6]U.S. Maritime Commission, Instruction Manual for Operating and Maintaining 2500 H.P. Triple Expansion Marine Steam Engines, EC2-S-C1 Cargo Vessels (mirrored excerpt) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Mirrored excerpt, engine-cylinder insulation section
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- This hull was built to the EC2-S-C1 design. The USMC operating manual for the EC2-S-C1 plant describes cylinder insulation of magnesia under sheet-iron lagging; insulation products of this era were commonly manufactured with asbestos fiber, and period steam-system gaskets, packing, and insulation felts commonly contained asbestos. Liberty-type hulls were built to emergency USMC specifications during the period when the federal government had reserved asbestos supply for shipbuilding.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- Construction trades (New England Shipbuilding, South Portland, 1944); conversion-yard trades (Atlantic Basin Iron Works / New York Navy Yard, 1944-45); engine crew
- Limitations
- Class/design documentation, not a hull record - the manual names the type, not this vessel, and does not itself state 'asbestos' content (era magnesia lagging was typically asbestos-fiber-reinforced; the manual is silent on fiber). Asbestos presence aboard this hull is era/design inference, not ship-proven. The 1944-45 Navy conversion altered the interior fit; conversion material schedules are not public. Does not establish quantity, present-day presence (hull scrapped 1961), individual exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-06
-
[7]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 emergency program under which this EC2-S-C1 hull was mass-produced - and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization aboard merchant-type hulls.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- 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 aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-07
-
[8]U.S. Naval Institute, Naval History magazine, 'Not Glamorous, But They Had a Job to Do' (June 2007, vol. 21 no. 3) - Basilan-class AG program history [reputable_press]
- Locator
- USNI Naval History, June 2007 - class program section
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documents the Basilan-class program: with Liberty-ship production in full swing, the Maritime Commission allocated ten EC2-S-C1 hulls under construction at East Coast yards for Navy conversion into combination electronics-repair, electronics-stores, repair-personnel-barracks, provision-carrying, and fresh-water-distillation ships under the AG classification - hull numbers AG-68 through AG-71 and AG-73 through AG-78. Avery Island (AG-76) is the New England Shipbuilding member, converted at Atlantic Basin Iron Works / New York Navy Yard.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- Conversion-yard trades (class context)
- Limitations
- Secondary professional-institution history (USNI) describing the class program and conversions; does not itemize materials installed or removed during this hull's conversion and contains no asbestos statement.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-08
-
[9]National Museum of the Pacific War, oral history interview with Albert Stone (2017-08-01), via Portal to Texas History [museum_official]
- Locator
- Interview abstract/audio record, Portal to Texas History metapth1610802
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Crew-level corroboration: Aviation Electronics Technician Mate 3/c Albert Stone describes assignment to USS Avery Island (AG-76) in June 1946 for Operation Crossroads electronics work, including being farmed out to a destroyer escort to fix and test radio-controlled (drone) boats - consistent with the ship's documented TU 1.1.2 instrumentation role and Electronics Group berthing.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1946
- Population
- Embarked electronics technicians (Crossroads)
- Limitations
- Single-witness oral history recorded 71 years after the events; corroborates role and embarked-technician population, not conditions or materials. No asbestos or hazard statement relevant to asbestos.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-09
-
[10]MARAD ShipHistory Detail 368 'AUGUSTIN DALY' record + status card; DANFS Avery Island entry; Avery Island status card (Detail 5685) [marad_nrc]
- Locator
- ShipHistory Detail 368 milestone table + status card PDF (/documents/28bbf758-2cd0-44ab-b3fb-9a3b0f1542cc.pdf); Detail 5685 name-history block
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Data-collision correction: MARAD's ShipHistory 'Vessel Name History' cross-links AVERY ISLAND (Detail 5685) with AUGUSTIN DALY (Detail 368) under shared U.S. Official No. 245223. The Augustin Daly status card shows a Permanente Metals Corp. (Richmond, CA) EC2-S-C1 delivered 1944-04-08 to the Maritime Commission that then served commercially (WSA, Alaska Steamship, W. R. Chamberlin, Pope & Talbot, West Coast SS) with Astoria reserve-fleet lay-ups and disposition 1967-03-07 - a different hull. Avery Island went to the Navy one week after launch (DANFS) and its status card shows Navy-to-MARAD custody only - it never had merchant service and 'Augustin Daly' is not a former name of this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1944-1967
- Limitations
- The name-history join is erroneous - the two records describe different builders, services, and timelines. Which record carries Official No. 245223 correctly is undetermined (possible MARAD transcription error on either record; the Augustin Daly card's OCR shows '245/223' garble). Does not affect this hull's documented chronology.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-10
-
[11]Batch-687 search ledger (this record): DANFS mirrors; MARAD ShipHistory 5685 + status card + Detail 368 collision check; DNA 6032F full text; USNI class article; NavSource photo archive (via search index); CourtListener API + web (blocked); general web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-avery-island-ag76-01 through sl-uss-avery-island-ag76-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed asbestos case naming the Avery Island hull was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener was unreachable this session (API HTTP 429, 125/day throttle; site HTTP 403) - the litigation sweep is incomplete on that repository; a general web sweep found only an excluded marketing-site page (asbestos-ships.com) and Louisiana place-name collisions (Avery Island salt-mine litigation v. Cargill et al.), neither qualifying.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 2026-09-20
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a late-1944 EC2-S-C1 hull is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials. CourtListener throttle means docket-level litigation is unverified, not negative. Does not establish presence or absence; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-11
-
[12]NARA Guide to Federal Records: RG 178 (US Maritime Commission - MCE hull 3085 construction file), RG 19 (Bureau of Ships - conversion contract records), RG 24 (deck logs); DNA 6032F reference apparatus for JTF-1 primary files (refs B.0.18, C.9.190, C.9.208) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/178.html; DNA 6032F reference list (C.9.185, C.9.190, C.9.208, B.0.18)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - require research-room or reproduction orders; no spend authorized): NARA RG 178 Construction Division records may hold the MCE hull 3085 construction and outfitting specification; RG 19 (Bureau of Ships) holds conversion-contract and Atlantic Basin Iron Works / New York Navy Yard work records for the AG-76 conversion; RG 24 holds the ship's deck logs (1944-47); JTF-1/Operation Crossroads primary files cited in DNA 6032F (radsafe documents, instrumentation-unit records) would hold hull-specific contamination and clearance detail; Hunters Point shipyard records cover the 1945-46 refit and any decontamination work.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1944-1960 records
- Limitations
- Record-group mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for MCE 3085 / AG-76 is unknown until surveyed in person. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-avery-island-ag76-12