Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]DANFS, Bittern I (AM-36) - construction, service history, and loss record (verbatim transcription; live NHHC page returns 404; verified identical to Wayback capture 2025-12-09 of canonical page) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: launched 15 February 1919 by Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co., Mobile, Ala. (sponsor Mrs. C. R. Doll); commissioned 28 May 1919, Lt. W. P. Bachmann in command; tender to captured German submarine U-88 on its Gulf/west-coast exhibition tour; sailed for the Far East January 1920 and remained on Asiatic Fleet service - wintering at Cavite, P.I., and summering at Chefoo, China, for 21 years, with scientific-expedition assignments and September 1923 Yokohama earthquake relief work. On 10 December 1941, while undergoing repairs during the Japanese air raid on Cavite Navy Yard, Bittern was not hit but suffered extensive damage from fire, near misses, and flying debris from Sealion (SS-195) moored alongside; too badly damaged for repair, she was scuttled in Manila Bay after her crew transferred to Quail (AM-15). One battle star for WWII service. Specs: 840 t., 187'10" x 35'6" x 9'10", 14 kt, complement 72, two 3-inch guns.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1917-1941
- Population
- Alabama Dry Dock construction trades (1917-1919); crew (design complement 72; 1919-1941)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents identity, service history, and loss - not materials or asbestos content. DANFS does not date the scuttling itself (secondary compilations read 10 December 1941; one reads 'on or after Dec. 12' - carried in gaps). Live NHHC page returned 404 on 2026-09-22; verbatim hazegray/losthistory transcription cited and verified against the 2025-12-09 Wayback capture of the canonical page https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/bittern-i.html.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bittern-am36-01
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[2]Naval History and Heritage Command, The Java Sea Campaign (Combat Narratives; originally ONI Publications Branch 1943; NHHC 75th anniversary edition 2017, ISBN 978-1-943604-04-3) [other_primary]
- Locator
- The Java Sea Campaign, 'The Asiatic Fleet' order-of-battle note and 'Withdrawal from the Philippines' narrative (pp. ~4-6 of 1943 text)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official Navy combat narrative names this hull in the Asiatic Fleet order of battle: 'several mine sweepers of the bird class, Bittern (Lieut. Thomas G. Warfield), Finch, Lark, Quail, Tanager, Whippoorwill' in December 1941, and narrates the 10 December 1941 raid in which more than 50 two-engine bombers destroyed Cavite Navy Yard in two waves - the raid that destroyed this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1941
- Population
- Asiatic Fleet personnel, December 1941
- Limitations
- Order-of-battle naming plus raid narrative; Bittern's individual damage and disposal are covered in DANFS, not in this narrative (which details Sealion's loss). Documents wartime status and commanding officer, not materials or asbestos. Live NHHC PDF returned 404 on 2026-09-22; verified via 2025-12-08 Wayback capture (full text fetched and quoted).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bittern-am36-02
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[3]United States Submarine Losses, World War II (Naval History Division / Naval Historical Center; HyperWar transcription), Sealion (SS-195) chapter [other_primary]
- Locator
- SubLosses Sealion chapter, raid narrative (pp. 12-14 of the printed monograph)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official submarine-loss monograph documents this hull's berth during the raid: 'Sealion was nested at Machina Wharf with Seadragon inboard and minesweeper Bittern outboard' when 54 Japanese bombers struck Cavite Navy Yard on 10 December 1941 - the documented spatial basis for the fire and debris damage that destroyed Bittern alongside Sealion.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1941
- Population
- Bittern, Sealion, and Seadragon crews at Machina Wharf, 10 December 1941
- Limitations
- Submarine-loss monograph; Bittern appears as context inside Sealion's loss narrative - it documents the mooring nest, not Bittern's own damage detail, casualties, or disposal. No materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bittern-am36-03
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[4]NavSource Online, Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, Bittern (AM 36) page - construction chronology, designation change, propulsion, stricken date, photo credits [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource AM-36 page, chronology block + specifications + photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource chronology for this hull: laid down 12 December 1917 by Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co., Mobile, AL; launched 15 February 1919; commissioned USS Bittern, Minesweeper No. 36, 28 May 1919; designated AM-36 17 July 1920; badly damaged in the 10 December 1941 air raid on Cavite Navy Yard and scuttled in Manila Bay; struck from the Naval Register 8 May 1942. Propulsion: two Babcock & Wilcox boilers, one triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine, one shaft. Photo credits identify NARA photo ID 45548963 (keel-laying photo, minesweepers Nos. 34-36) and NHHC photos NH 56500 and NH 79073.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1917-1942
- Population
- Construction trades; crew
- Limitations
- NavSource is a curated volunteer reference archive, not a primary register; laid-down, designation, and stricken dates are consistent with DANFS and NavalCoverMuseum but were not verified against a digitized official register. NavSource displacement (1,009 t.) conflicts with DANFS (840 t.) - carried in gaps. No materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bittern-am36-04
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[5]NavSource AM-36 propulsion data + Lapwing-class machinery data (NavSource class page); Atlas shipyards.json record 'alabama-dry-dock' (Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co., Mobile) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource AM-36 specifications (propulsion line); shipyards.json 'alabama-dry-dock' evidence block
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era inference for a 1917-1919 naval steam plant: Bittern's documented machinery - two Babcock & Wilcox boilers feeding a single vertical triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine (class-standard ~1,400 shp) - is of the type for which period Navy construction used asbestos boiler lagging, steam-line insulation, gaskets, and packing. Builder Alabama Dry Dock & Shipbuilding Co. is a documented Atlas shipyard entry.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1917-1941
- Population
- Alabama Dry Dock construction trades (1917-1919); crew (1919-1941)
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no hull-specific insulation specification, plan, survey, or material record was located, and none can be expected for a hull sunk in 1941. The yard dataset's only asbestos evidence row is a 1986 OSHA inspection (29 CFR 1910.1001 citation), ~67 years after this hull's construction, so it does not describe 1917-19 conditions. NARA RG 19 General Information Books / Bureau of Ships construction files are the unfetched hull-level lead. Does not establish quantities or exposure for any individual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bittern-am36-05
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[6]National Museum of the Pacific War / Admiral Nimitz Foundation, Oral History OH00537 - interview with Bruce Elliott (interviewer William J. Alexander), 17 May 2002 (UNT Portal to Texas History) [museum_official]
- Locator
- UNT Portal metadata description + 9-page transcript (OH00537)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Museum oral history documents service aboard this hull: Elliott joined the Navy January 1941, reached the Philippines via USS Henderson (AP-1) to Tsingtao, China, and 'picked up USS Bittern (AM-36), laying and sweeping mines in Manila Bay'; he was aboard through the 10 December 1941 Cavite Navy Yard raid that damaged the minesweeper during repairs.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1941; interview 2002
- Population
- Bittern crew member (1941)
- Limitations
- Veteran oral history collected for biographical purposes - corroborates the ship's Manila Bay minesweeping operations and presence at the raid, but contains no materials, insulation, or asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bittern-am36-06
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[7]NARA holdings: RG 24 Entry 118 (NAID 581208), Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations; RG 19 Bureau of Ships construction records incl. General Information Books; NARA still-picture ID 45548963 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA deck-logs research page; RG 24/RG 19 series descriptions; photo credit per NavSource AM-36 page
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA series-level holdings plausibly contain hull-level records: RG 24 Entry 118 covers ship deck logs through the 1941-1947 window (Bittern's 1919-1941 logs fall in the pre-1941 Archives I series); RG 19 Bureau of Ships records include per-vessel construction and material documentation (General Information Books); NARA photo ID 45548963 is credited in NavSource as the keel-laying photograph of minesweepers Nos. 34-36 at Alabama Dry Dock, Mobile.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1917-1941 (record coverage)
- Limitations
- Series-level inference - specific Bittern volumes were not individually verified in the National Archives Catalog (the catalog front end is JS-driven and was not machine-verified this session); retrieval not performed. Whether any record itemizes hull insulation materials is unknown until pulled.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bittern-am36-07
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[8]Batch-1303 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS and NHHC publications; NavSource; National Museum of the Pacific War oral history; open-web litigation index search; CourtListener API v4 (quota-blocked) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-bittern-am36-01 through sl-uss-bittern-am36-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming this hull was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was destroyed in December 1941 - before Navy asbestos survey programs and the modern litigation record - so no survey is expected to exist. Open-web litigation searches returned only law-firm bulk ship lists (mesothelioma.com, mesotheliomahelp.org, mesotheliomahope.com), which are excluded sources and carry no evidentiary value.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 2026-09-22
- Limitations
- Negative finding is bounded by the search ledger: CourtListener API v4 returned HTTP 429 (2,800/day quota already consumed; expected reset ~9h) and the public web UI returned 403, so docket coverage is PARTIAL, not exhaustive - logged as blocked in sl-uss-bittern-am36-05/-06. Absence of a located record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - era-standard insulation is a reasonable inference, not a ship-proven fact. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bittern-am36-08