Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]DANFS, USS Bairoko (CVE-115) entry (verbatim transcription; live NHHC page returned 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS CVE-115 entry, construction and service paragraphs
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS documents: laid down 25 July 1944 by Todd-Pacific Shipyards, Inc., Tacoma, Wash., as Portage Bay; renamed Bairoko; launched 25 January 1945; commissioned 16 July (year printed as 1946 - a transcription error corrected to 1945, see ev-uss-bairoko-cve115-06); participated in the Eniwetok atomic-bomb test in 1948; decommissioned 14 April 1950 at San Francisco; recommissioned 12 September 1950; three Korean War tours (three battle stars); an internal explosion and flash fire on 9 May 1951 killed 5 men and injured 13; supported the 1954 hydrogen-bomb tests at Eniwetok and Bikini; pre-inactivation overhaul at Long Beach Naval Shipyard July 1954; decommissioned in reserve at San Francisco 18 February 1955; reclassified AKV-15 (7 May 1959); stricken 1 April 1960.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1944-1961
- Population
- Crew (~1,086) plus embarked Marine squadrons and Long Beach NSY workforce (1954)
- Limitations
- Documents construction, service, the Long Beach Naval Shipyard availability, reclassification, and disposal; contains no insulation, material, or asbestos information. The printed '16 July 1946' commissioning date conflicts with the entry's own narrative of 1945 operations and with NavSource/navypedia - corrected to 1945 and logged.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bairoko-cve115-01
-
[2]NavSource Online, Escort Carrier Photo Archive, USS Bairoko (CVE-115) - Operational and Building Data + navypedia class technical block [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource CVE-115 page, Operational and Building Data block; navypedia us_cv_commencement_bay.htm technical block
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NavSource building data documents: keel laid 25 July 1944; launched 25 January 1945; commissioned 16 July 1945 (confirming the corrected year against DANFS's printed 1946); decommissioned 14 April 1950; recommissioned 12 September 1950; decommissioned 18 February 1955; reclassified AKV-15 7 May 1959; stricken 1 April 1960; sold 10 August 1960 to Hyman-Michaels Co. of Chicago and scrapped at Hong Kong in January 1961. Class machinery data (NavSource/navypedia): 16,000 shp, geared turbines, 2 screws, 19 knots; navypedia technical block gives 4 Combustion Engineering boilers and 2 Allis-Chalmers (source spelling 'Allison-Chalmers') geared steam turbine sets.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1944-1961
- Population
- n/a (building data)
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary sources consistent with DANFS on all overlapping facts once the commission-year typo is corrected. No insulation/asbestos content. 'Allis-Chalmers' carried as the correct manufacturer spelling.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bairoko-cve115-02
-
[3]U.S. Navy, Bureau of Ships Technical Manual, NAVSHIPS 250-000, Chapter 39 'Thermal Insulation' (1960, page date 15 April 1959) - specification-level document for Navy shipboard insulation materials [other_primary]
- Locator
- BuShips TM ch.39, sections 39-11 through 39-13 (materials)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- The 1960 BuShips Technical Manual's insulation chapter enumerates the asbestos material suite standard to Navy steam plants of this hull's construction era: MIL-I-2781 pipe covering including 85% magnesia 'formed from a combination of 85 percent magnesium carbonate with about 15 percent asbestos fiber' and a class 'formed from a uniform mixture of amosite asbestos fibers'; roll asbestos felt MIL-I-15091; asbestos cloth/tape SS-C-466 (80-95% chrysotile) as lagging; asbestos millboard HH-M-351; asbestos finishing cement; molded asbestos block for high-temperature service. This hull's four Combustion Engineering boilers, two Allis-Chalmers geared turbines, and associated steam piping are the equipment classes these specifications cover - and her 1951 explosion/flash-fire casualty and 1954 Long Beach pre-inactivation overhaul are documented events involving machinery-space repair work.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1960 (manual); describes era-standard specifications
- Population
- Construction trades (Tacoma, 1944-45); crew (1945-55); Long Beach NSY workforce (1954)
- Limitations
- Specification-level documentation of materials the Navy specified, not a ship-specific installation, casualty-repair, or removal record - establishes the era insulation suite, not what was installed on, damaged in, or removed from this hull. Retrieved PDF is a scan hosted in the Garlock bankruptcy Daubert-appendix repository; the document itself is the government manual (verified legible 2026-09-18; also independently verified in the class-D profile 2026-09-16).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bairoko-cve115-03
-
[4]Port of Tacoma v. Todd Shipyards Corp. et al., No. 3:08-cv-05132-BHS (W.D. Wash.), Order approving TSC settlement (Doc. 139, 2010-09-09); allegations recited from Port's CERCLA contribution complaint (Doc. 58) [court_record]
- Locator
- Order Doc. 139 at 1-3; complaint summary Doc. 58 (Shipbuilding Site, 1916-1946)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- A W.D. Wash. order recites the Port of Tacoma's CERCLA/MTCA contribution allegations that Todd Shipyards Corporation owned and operated parcels near the mouth of the Hylebos Waterway in Tacoma - 'the Shipbuilding Site' - from 1916 through 1946, and that Todd's shipbuilding operations disposed of contaminated material and hazardous substances into the waterway. The Shipbuilding Site is the Commencement Bay yard where this hull was built; a settlement releasing TSC (Todd) was approved.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1916-1946 site era; litigation 2005-2010
- Population
- Todd Tacoma yard workforce (allegation-level)
- Limitations
- Establishes the builder's site identity and operating era (1916-1946) at the location of construction. The litigated contaminants were listed hazardous substances (metals, PAHs, PCBs) - asbestos is not among the recited substances; the order recites allegations for settlement approval, not findings of contamination or exposure. No individual or hull-level exposure is established.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bairoko-cve115-04
-
[5]Herring v. Texaco, Inc., 161 Wn.2d 189, 165 P.3d 4 (Wash. 2007) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion, 161 Wn.2d 189 (No. 78774-3)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Washington Supreme Court opinion documents that Roger Herring worked for subcontractors at Todd Shipyards sites in the 1960s-early 1970s, developed pleural thickening (1986), asbestosis (~1989), and fatal mesothelioma (2002), and that his suit against Todd was barred because his asbestos claims were discharged in Todd's 1987 Chapter 11 bankruptcy (published-notice sufficiency was the litigated issue). Documents that occupational asbestos-exposure claims were litigated against this hull's builder corporate family in the postwar era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1960s-2007
- Population
- Todd Shipyards subcontractor worker (mesothelioma)
- Limitations
- Yard/corporate-level litigation at Todd's Puget Sound operations post-dating this hull's construction era; does not name this hull, does not adjudicate exposure aboard any specific vessel, and Herring's claim was barred on bankruptcy-discharge grounds - a merits-level negative for that plaintiff, not affirmative exposure evidence. Construction-era (1944-45) conditions at the Tacoma yard are not addressed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bairoko-cve115-05
-
[6]DANFS CVE-115 entry vs. NavSource/navypedia building data - commissioning year [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS CVE-115 entry (printed date vs. narrative); NavSource/navypedia CVE-115 building data
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Correction: the DANFS entry prints the commissioning date as 16 July 1946, but the same entry's narrative describes the ship conducting shakedown and operations beginning in 1945, and both NavSource and navypedia independently give 16 July 1945. The printed 1946 is a DANFS transcription error; 16 July 1945 is carried.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1945
- Limitations
- The correction is a date fix only, supported by two independent compiled sources and DANFS internal chronology; no other field is affected.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bairoko-cve115-06
-
[7]Batch-54 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NavSource/navypedia ship records; CourtListener-domain searches by exact name and hull number; builder-yard litigation verification [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-bairoko-cve115-01 through -08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, insulation specification, abatement contract, or docketed asbestos case naming USS Bairoko (CVE-115) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). Litigation-index sweeps by exact ship name and hull number returned no qualifying asbestos opinion naming this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2026-09-18
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1944-45 Tacoma construction plus a documented naval-shipyard availability sits inside the Navy's asbestos-specification era and the negative reflects record availability, not hull condition. CourtListener API was rate-limited (HTTP 429, daily cap) and its HTML interface CloudFront-blocked on 2026-09-18; the domain-restricted index sweep is a degraded but honest substitute, logged in the ledger. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bairoko-cve115-07