Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]CourtListener opinion search: 'USS Bass' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener opinion search 'USS Bass' returned 21 result(s) (2026-10-07); individual records not reviewed
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Limitations
- hit count only — underlying dockets/opinions not individually reviewed; name query may match same-named vessels
- Evidence ID
- uss-bass-ss164-cl-name-opinion
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[2]CourtListener docket search: 'USS Bass' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener docket search 'USS Bass' returned 1311 result(s) (2026-10-07); individual records not reviewed
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Limitations
- hit count only — underlying dockets/opinions not individually reviewed; name query may match same-named vessels
- Evidence ID
- uss-bass-ss164-cl-name-docket
-
[3]CourtListener opinion search: 'SS-164' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener opinion search 'SS-164' returned 2694 result(s) (2026-10-07); individual records not reviewed
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- hit count only — underlying dockets/opinions not individually reviewed
- Evidence ID
- uss-bass-ss164-cl-hull-opinion
-
[4]CourtListener docket search: 'SS-164' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener docket search 'SS-164' returned 37588 result(s) (2026-10-07); individual records not reviewed
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- hit count only — underlying dockets/opinions not individually reviewed
- Evidence ID
- uss-bass-ss164-cl-hull-docket
-
[5]DANFS, Bass I (SF-5/SS-164) - construction, service history, 1942 fire, decommissioning, 'destroyed' 12 Mar 1945 (verbatim transcription; live NHHC page returned 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, Bass I - spec block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: launched as V-2, 27 December 1924, by Portsmouth Navy Yard (sponsor Mrs. Douglas E. Dismukes); commissioned 26 September 1925, Lt. Cmdr. G. A. Rood. SubDiv 20 Atlantic/Caribbean to Nov 1927, then San Diego Dec 1927; west coast, Hawaiian Islands, Caribbean to Dec 1932. Renamed Bass 9 March 1931; assigned Division 12 April 1931; designation SF-5 to SS-164 on 1 July 1931. Rotating Reserve SubDiv 15 San Diego from 2 Jan 1933; rejoined fleet July 1933; west coast/Canal Zone/Hawaii to Jan 1937; out of commission in reserve at Philadelphia 9 June 1937. Recommissioned Portsmouth, N.H., 5 September 1940, SubDiv 9 Atlantic Fleet; New England coast and Bermuda trips Feb-Nov 1941; arrived Coco Solo, C.Z., 24 November 1941. 1942: SubDiv 31, Squadron 3 - four war patrols in the Pacific off Balboa, Mar-Aug. On 17 August 1942 a fire in the after battery room spread to the after torpedo room and starboard main motor, killing 25 enlisted men by asphyxiation; Antaeus (AS-21) assisted and escorted her via Gulf of Dulce to Balboa. Departed Canal Zone Oct 1942 for Philadelphia (arrived 19th); repairs at Philadelphia Navy Yard; New London secret experiments off Block Island Dec 1943; Philadelphia Yard repairs Jan-Mar 1944; remainder of 1944 SubRon 1 Atlantic Fleet out of New London between Long Island and Block Island. Decommissioned Submarine Base New London 3 March 1945; 'destroyed' 12 March 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1921-1945
- Population
- Portsmouth NY construction trades (1921-25); crews (1925-37, 1940-45); Philadelphia NY repair/conversion trades (1937, 1942-44)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; contains no asbestos or material content. Yard-period asbestos disturbance is era inference, not a per-hull record. Live NHHC DANFS page returned 404 on 2026-09-19; verbatim LostHistory/HazeGray transcription used. Casualty figure is 25 enlisted men per this entry; NOAA and the On Eternal Patrol casualty list give 26 - discrepancy carried in gaps. DANFS is silent on the stricken date (10 Mar 1945 per NavSource).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bass-ss164-01
-
[6]NOAA Ocean Exploration, 'USS Bass' feature (25 July 2019, R. Mather, URI), 2019 Technology Demonstration - NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, KATFISH synthetic aperture sonar [other_primary]
- Locator
- NOAA Ocean Exploration feature page, 2019 Technology Demonstration (expedition EX1904)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NOAA documents the loss mechanism and present state of this hull: sunk 12 March 1945 as a target for the Mark 24 acoustic homing torpedo (the aircraft-deployable anti-submarine weapon); wreck relocated in the 1960s at ~47 m (155 ft); mapped for the first time by synthetic aperture sonar in 2019, revealing two parts - a ~75 m (245 ft) main section (stern to forward of the conning tower, pressure hull and frames generally intact) and a ~24 m (80 ft) bow section on its port side ~7.6 m to the south. Feature also documents: designed by the Electric Boat Company; largest submarine built for the U.S. Navy at the time; nine V-boats were the only U.S. submarines built in the interwar period; post-fire conversion to a cargo-carrying submarine.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1945; 1960s; 2019
- Population
- n/a (wreck survey)
- Limitations
- Government source; SAS imagery documents external structure only - no asbestos or material characterization of the wreck. NOAA's text says the August 1942 fire killed 26; DANFS says 25 enlisted men - discrepancy carried in gaps. Does not establish exposure for any individual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bass-ss164-02
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[7]NavSource Submarine Photo Archive, V-2 (SF-5) / Bass (SS-164) - spec block, yard-period photo captions, NHHC photo S-284.06 (sinking); cargo-conversion detail citing Norman Friedman, U.S. Submarines Through 1945 (Naval Institute Press) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 08164 page: header block, spec block, photo captions (Brooklyn drydock; 80G-450242; NHHC S-284.06; Friedman text)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented yard periods and configuration events for this hull: overhauled in drydock at Brooklyn Navy Yard (period photo caption); repairs plus conversion to a cargo submarine at Philadelphia Navy Yard after the Aug 1942 fire - photographed newly converted off the yard 30 March 1943, main engines removed so the after engine room and forward/after torpedo rooms could carry cargo; further Philadelphia repairs Jan-Mar 1944; struck from the Naval Register 10 March 1945; sunk as a target 12 March 1945 southeast of Block Island in 155 ft of water, photographed by aircraft of Anti-Submarine Development Detachment, Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (NHHC Catalog S-284.06). Spec block: Busch-Sulzer diesels 4,100 hp, Elliot electric motors 2,400 hp, 120 battery cells, twin propellers; complement 6 officers + 50 enlisted.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1921-1945
- Population
- Brooklyn NY, Philadelphia NY, Portsmouth NH yard trades at documented availabilities; crew
- Limitations
- Secondary archival compilation (NavSource) carrying official-photo captions and DANFS text; conversion details trace to Friedman (Naval Institute Press). Establishes where and when the hull was worked on - not what materials were disturbed. No asbestos content. The 4,100 hp figure conflicts slightly with secondary as-built figures (2 x 2,250 hp mains + 2 x 1,000 hp auxiliaries); carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bass-ss164-03
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[8]Era inference built on: documented propulsion fit (diesel-electric, no boilers/steam plant - NavSource spec block, DANFS); Portsmouth NSY documented asbestos product list (thermal insulation, pipe covering, millboard, gaskets, packing, block insulation, asbestos cloth, Kaylo) and Philadelphia NSY documented product list (Eagle-Picher, Thermasil, Unibestos, Kaylo, Garlock gaskets/packing, Johns-Manville pipe insulation) in the shipyard-exposure-map dataset [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource spec block + DANFS yard narrative; shipyards.json product lists for portsmouth-naval-shipyard, philadelphia-naval-shipyard
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A U.S. Navy-yard-built submarine constructed 1921-25 and repeatedly repaired through 1944 sits inside the Navy's asbestos era; era-standard applications aboard a diesel-electric boat with no boilers or steam plant are diesel exhaust and engine lagging, gaskets, packing, electrical and thermal insulation, and hull/acoustic insulation - a materially smaller asbestos envelope than steam-driven hulls. Both yards with documented work on this hull (Portsmouth NSY construction/recommissioning; Philadelphia NSY 1937 inactivation and 1942-44 repair/conversion periods) carry yard-level asbestos product documentation, and a Brooklyn Navy Yard drydock overhaul is documented at caption level.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1921-1945
- Population
- Portsmouth NY construction trades (1921-25); Brooklyn NY drydock trades; Philadelphia NY repair/conversion trades (1937, 1942-44); crews (1925-37, 1940-45)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material schedule, or yard work package for SS-164 located. Yard-level documentation does not establish materials aboard this hull; Portsmouth's cohort/survey evidence postdates Bass's construction era. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. The stripped hull was sunk in 1945; whatever era material remained went down with the wreck.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bass-ss164-04
-
[9]Philadelphia Naval Shipyard asbestos litigation product IDs: Taylor v. Celotex Corp., 393 Pa. Super. 566 (1990); Junge v. Garlock, Inc., 427 Pa. Super. 592 (1993); Gross v. Johns-Manville Corp., 410 Pa. Super. 486 (1991) - per shipyard-exposure-map dataset ev-philadelphia-naval-s-02; EPA Superfund record for Portsmouth NSY, site ME7170022019 (listed 1994, deleted 2024) [court_record]
- Locator
- Taylor v. Celotex (Pa. Super. 1990) opinion; shipyards.json rows for philadelphia-naval-shipyard and portsmouth-naval-shipyard; EPA site ME7170022019
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Yard-level documentation: published Pennsylvania appellate opinions identify named asbestos products in use at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard across 1941-1984 - spanning this hull's documented 1942-44 repair/conversion periods; EPA Superfund documentation confirms widespread asbestos-containing material at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (350+ buildings; asbestos insulation in the Toxic Landfill), the yard that built this hull 1921-25 and recommissioned her in 1940.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1941-1984 (Philadelphia product IDs); 1994-2024 (Portsmouth EPA record)
- Population
- Philadelphia NSY and Portsmouth NSY trades
- Limitations
- Yard-level, not hull-level: establishes that asbestos products were in documented use at the yards during eras covering this hull's availabilities; does not establish materials aboard SS-164, exposure, causation, or quantity. Portsmouth's EPA record postdates Bass's 1921-25 construction; Philadelphia opinions span the relevant window.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bass-ss164-05
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[10]Batch-356 search ledger (this record): DANFS transcription; NOAA Ocean Exploration; NavSource; NVR; CourtListener (blocked); web-index litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-bass-ss164-01 through sl-uss-bass-ss164-08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, material schedule, hazmat disclosure, or qualifying asbestos case naming USS Bass, V-2, SF-5, or SS-164 was found. CourtListener API v4 returned HTTP 429 (daily quota 125/day exhausted; expected available ~34353 s) and the v3/HTML endpoints returned 403 - direct docket-text search not run; compensated with a search-engine-index sweep that surfaced only law-firm list entries naming the hull (excluded sources) and no qualifying litigation. Garlock Sealing v. Little (Va. 2005) - a submarine gasket-mesothelioma case surfacing in the sweep - names other boats (Shark, Henry Clay, John Marshall, Sam Houston, Sam Rayburn, Hunley, Thomas Jefferson), not Bass: name-collision-adjacent, not a hit.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 2026-09-19
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the hull was stripped and deliberately sunk, and no materials characterization of the wreck exists. CourtListener quota exhaustion means the direct docket search is an open lead, not a completed negative; residual risk of a docket-level 'Bass' or 'V-2' string in asbestos-case files remains unexamined. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. Distinct from USS Bass SSK-2/SS-551 (1951), a different hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bass-ss164-06