Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 'Biscayne' (AGC-18/AVP-11) entry - HyperWar/ibiblio transcription; identical text at hazegray.org DANFS mirror [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Full entry, AGC/AVP section; mirror at https://www.hazegray.org/danfs/auxil/avp11.htm. NHHC canonical page (history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/biscayne.html) returned 404 on 2026-09-20 - standing link-rot condition noted in Batch-01
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS service record: laid down 1939-10-27 at Puget Sound Navy Yard; launched 1941-05-23; commissioned 1941-07-03 as seaplane tender AVP-11. Atlantic Fleet plane-guard/patrol duty out of Boston (1941-12-07 to 1942-05-27); seaplane tender and communications ship in Newfoundland and Greenland waters; Freetown, Sierra Leone with Patrol Squadron 92 (arrived 1942-11-02); Casablanca 1942-11-18 to 1943-04-25. Fitted out as an amphibious force flagship by repair ship Delta (AR-9) at Mers-el-Kebir 1943-05-02 to 1943-05-31; flagship for RADM R. L. Connolly at Sicily (Joss/Licata force, July 1943); flagship for Connolly and VADM H. K. Hewitt at Salerno (1943-09-09 to 1943-10-11), where she also served as a temporary hospital ship and sent a fire-and-rescue team to the British ammunition ship Lyninge; flagship for RADM F. J. Lowry, 8th Amphibious Force, at Anzio (1944-01-22 to 1944-02-02); flagship for RADM B. J. Rodgers at the invasion of southern France (1944-08-15 to 1944-09-16). Redesignated AGC-18 on 1944-10-10 after returning to Boston. Pacific 1945: flagship for COM DesRon 63 at Pearl Harbor; flagship of the transport screen at Iwo Jima (1945-02-19 to 1945-03-04); Kerama Retto and Okinawa flagship duties through 1945-07-01; flagship for the occupation of Iheya and Aguni Islands (1945-06-03 to 1945-06-09); occupation duty in Korean and Chinese waters through 1945-10-30. Decommissioned 1946-06-29; transferred to the Coast Guard at Curtis Bay, Md., 1946-07-19. Six battle stars for WWII service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1939-1946
- Population
- Ship's company and embarked flag staffs, 1941-1946
- Limitations
- Authoritative Navy-compiled service history establishing identity, conversions, operations, battle stars, decommission and transfer. Contains no asbestos, materials, insulation, or hazardous-substance information and supports no asbestos claim. Transfer-to-USCG date given as 1946-07-19 conflicts with the USCG Historian's Office (1946-07-29) and NavSource (1946-07-10) - carried as a discrepancy, not resolved.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-biscayne-agc18-01
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[2]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 'Dexter, 1946' cutter file (webcutters/Dexter1946.asp, via Internet Archive capture 2008-09-24) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Cutter particulars block (as of 1965), Class History, and Cutter History narrative; live history.uscg.mil URL did not serve the page to automated fetch (403) - archived official page used
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- USCG Historian's Office cutter file for Dexter (1946): ex-USS Biscayne (AGC-18), turned over from the Navy to the Coast Guard at the Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, on 1946-07-29; commissioned USCGC Dexter (WAGC-18) 1946-09-20, CDR A. G. Morrill in command; Boston homeport 1946-10-17 to December 1952 for law-enforcement, ocean-station, and search-and-rescue duty (Ocean Stations Charlie, Alfa, Able, Delta, Echo, Hotel, Bravo); decommissioned 1952-12-17 at Curtis Bay and stored; recommissioned 1958-06-30 (CDR Bainbridge Leland) and homeported Alameda, CA as West Coast Coast Guard Reserve training vessel (complement 85 officers and men, facilities for 100+ recruits); later designations WAVP-385 and WHEC-385. Final disposition: decommissioned and transferred to the Navy, which used her as a target; sunk in 1968. 1965 particulars: Fairbanks-Morse direct-reversing diesels, 6,150 SHP; 310 ft 9 in oa; displacement 2,442; complement 10 officers, 2 warrants, 66 men; armament 1 x 5"/38.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1946-1968
- Population
- USCG crew (Boston ocean-station period 1946-1952); CG Reserve recruits and training cadre (Alameda 1958-1968)
- Limitations
- Official USCG history establishing the 1946-1968 career and the diesel machinery fit. Contains no asbestos, insulation, abatement, or hazmat information and supports no asbestos claim. Internal conflict: the page header gives decommissioning 1968-01-18 while the narrative gives 1968-07-09 (the same date it gives for transfer to USN); both dates reported, not resolved. Transfer date 1946-07-29 conflicts with DANFS (07-19) and NavSource (07-10).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-biscayne-agc18-02
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[3]Cressman, Robert J., ''A Mighty Important' Makeshift Flagship,' Naval History Magazine 25(1), U.S. Naval Institute, January 2011 [reputable_press]
- Locator
- Article text, sections on conversion and Mediterranean operations; read via Internet Archive capture 2024-02-24 (live page rate-limited the fetch)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Robert J. Cressman (USNI Naval History) documents: the Barnegat-class diesel engines were unreliable and required extensive repairs/alterations at Boston Navy Yard before sustained service; the April-May 1943 flagship conversion at Mers-el-Kebir (ordnance, avgas, and squadron stores landed at Port Lyautey from 1943-04-21; Delta (AR-9) repair crew built an aft deckhouse containing a code room and a three-compartment war room, spaces that 'would prove to be unbearably hot and humid in warm weather'; communications fit replaced SCR-188 sets with four 7CSs, one SCR-284 and two receivers; inclining experiment 1943-05-31; Conolly broke his flag 1943-06-06); war correspondent Ernie Pyle sailed in her for the Sicily invasion and wrote of the 'mighty important ship,' anonymized in Brave Men; her commanding officer (CDR E. H. Eckelmeyer Jr.) doubted 'there are any other ships in the U.S. Navy operating with personnel increased by 200 percent over that for which they were originally designed'; further alterations at Boston Navy Yard followed the Mediterranean deployment before redesignation AGC-18 (1944-10-10).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1941-1944
- Population
- Conversion crews (Delta AR-9 artisans; Boston Navy Yard trades); embarked flag staffs
- Limitations
- Professional naval-history scholarship drawing on primary records; establishes conversion work scope (new deckhouse, code room, war room, communications spaces) and operating tempo. Contains no asbestos or insulation-material statement; the conversion-scope detail is relevant only as documenting where shipyard-period work occurred (Delta at Mers-el-Kebir 1943; Boston Navy Yard 1941-42 and 1944) - supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-biscayne-agc18-03
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[4]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 in which this hull was built at a Navy yard (laid down 1939, launched 1941) and repeatedly altered (1941-42 Boston work; 1943 Mers-el-Kebir flagship conversion; 1944 Boston alterations; 1946 Coast Guard weather-ship conversion at Curtis Bay), and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization aboard naval and merchant-type hulls.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1939-1946 (era documented); article 1987
- Population
- WWII Navy-yard construction and conversion workers; 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 is aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation. This hull's diesel plant narrows the era-typical product set (no boiler insulation) - see the correction row.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-biscayne-agc18-04
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[5]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 'Dexter, 1946' particulars (Fairbanks-Morse direct-reversing diesels, 6,150 SHP); Cressman, Naval History Magazine 25(1) (diesel unreliability, Boston yard work) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Particulars block 'Main Engines: Fairbanks-Morse, direct reversing diesels'; USNI article construction/early-service section
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Machinery correction: this hull was diesel-powered - USCG 1965 particulars list Fairbanks-Morse direct-reversing diesels (6,150 SHP), twin screws; USNI documents chronic diesel unreliability requiring extensive early yard work. Asbestos-marketing pages describing 'boilers, turbines' and boiler insulation aboard USS Biscayne/seaplane tenders are inconsistent with this hull's documented plant (no steam boilers or turbines); any era-inference for this hull runs to diesel-exhaust uptake lagging, hot-pipe and machinery-space insulation, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, and deck covering rather than boiler-room steam plant.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1941-1968
- Limitations
- Corrects product-category templates only; it does not itself establish the presence or absence of asbestos-containing materials aboard - diesel-era lagging, gaskets, and interior insulation could still have contained asbestos, but no located record establishes that for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-biscayne-agc18-05
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[6]Batch-709 search ledger (this record): DANFS (HyperWar/hazegray mirrors); USCG Historian's Office cutter file; USNI Naval History; NVR ship detail page; CourtListener API + site-indexed fallback; general web search [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-biscayne-agc18-01 through sl-uss-biscayne-agc18-09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming USS Biscayne (AVP-11/AGC-18) or USCGC Dexter (WAGC-18/WAVP-385/WHEC-385) was found in the public sources searched. The hull was expended as a target in 1968, so no surviving fabric, museum condition report, or abatement record can exist. CourtListener API was rate-limited at session time (125/day exhausted); site-indexed fallback searches surfaced only name collisions (Biscayne Bay maritime litigation) and no hull-specific asbestos opinion - the litigation search is logged as incomplete, not negative.
- 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 during service - a 1939-41 Navy-yard-built hull is era-consistent with asbestos-containing insulation and components, and the 1943/1944 conversions were exactly the kind of yard work in which asbestos materials were disturbed. Does not establish presence or absence; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility. Litigation coverage is incomplete because the CourtListener API was throttled at session time.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-biscayne-agc18-06
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[7]NARA Guide to Federal Records: RG 19 (Bureau of Ships), RG 24 (Naval Personnel/deck logs), RG 26 (U.S. Coast Guard) [other_primary]
- Locator
- RG 19 ship plans/records; RG 24 deck logs; RG 26 cutter records - record-group mapping only
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - no reproduction spend authorized): NARA RG 19 (Bureau of Ships) and Puget Sound Navy Yard records for AVP-11 construction incl. Booklet of General Plans and machinery/insulation specifications; NARA RG 24 deck logs for AVP-11/AGC-18 (1941-1946) covering the Mers-el-Kebir and Boston conversion periods; NARA RG 26 (U.S. Coast Guard) records for USCGC Dexter incl. the 1946 Curtis Bay weather-ship conversion file and 1958 reactivation work - conversion-era work lists are the most likely place insulation disturbance would appear if it was documented.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1939-1968 records
- Limitations
- Record-group mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for this hull is unknown until surveyed in person. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-biscayne-agc18-07