Evidence
5 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-5).
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[1]DANFS, Bluebird I (AM-72), NHHC expanded entry by Raymond A. Mann, 27 January 2006 (Wayback capture of the official history.navy.mil page; live NHHC returns 404; short verbatim entry mirrored at losthistory.net/hazegray/danfs/mine/am72.htm) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Wayback capture 20101207073517 of history.navy.mil/danfs/b7/bluebird-i.htm; full entry text
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: steel-hulled trawler Maine built 1931 at Bath, Maine, by Bath Iron Works; purchased by the Navy 13 August 1940 from Booth Fisheries Co., Boston; renamed Bluebird and designated AM-72 on 14 August 1940; converted at Boston by the General Ship & Engineering Works; commissioned at Boston Navy Yard 22 November 1940, Lt. James T. Baldwin, USNR. Assigned to MinRon 7, Train, Atlantic Fleet; spring-late June 1941 Bermuda NOB supporting the Neutrality Patrol, returned to Norfolk 27 June; east-coast MinRon 7 operations until spring 1942; temporary 5th Naval District assignment from 2 April 1942; resumed Atlantic Fleet duty 23 July 1942; by early 1943 part of the Greenland Patrol, operating between Greenland and Iceland; northern Atlantic patrol until fall 1944; redesignated IX-172 on 1 June 1944; arrived Boston 31 October 1944 reporting to Commandant, 1st Naval District; decommissioned 12 January 1945; struck from the Navy list 19 January 1945; transferred to the Maritime Commission's War Shipping Administration for disposal 15 November 1945. Specs: dp. 465; l. 132'4"; b. 24'0"; dr. 12'; s. 10 k. (max.); cpl. 39; a. 1 3", 2 .50-cal. mg., 6 .30-cal. mg.; cl. Albatross.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1930-1945
- Population
- Bath Iron Works construction trades (1930-31); conversion-yard workers, East Boston (1940-41); crew (complement 39)
- Limitations
- Official Navy history documents identity, service, and specifications - it contains no materials or asbestos information and does not establish asbestos presence or absence aboard. Live NHHC page returns 404; the 2010 Wayback capture of the official DANFS entry is cited, with the verbatim hazegray/losthistory mirror as corroboration.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bluebird-am72-01
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[2]NavSource Online, Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, Bluebird (IX 172) ex-AM-72 (build/delivery dates, propulsion, Navy photo documentation, commanding-officer list, disposal note) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net/archives/11/02072.htm - ship data block, photo captions, CO table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Archive record for this hull: laid down 25 October 1930 as steel-hull trawler M/V Maine by Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, ME, for Booth Fisheries Co. of Boston; launched 7 April 1931; delivered 18 April 1931; Navy acquisition 13 August 1940; renamed Bluebird 14 August 1940; conversion completed 15 March 1941; propulsion one 550-shp Fairbanks-Morse diesel engine, one shaft - a diesel plant, no boilers; photographed at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA, 18-20 January 1942 (U.S. Navy photo 2576(42)); photographed in Arsuk Fjord, Greenland, circa May 1944 from USS Bear (AG-29) while both served on the Greenland Patrol (National Archives photos 80-G-225202 through 80-G-225205, National Museum of the U.S. Navy); struck from the Navy list 19 January 1945; transferred to the Maritime Commission 15 November 1945; transferred to Norway; fate unknown. Four commanding officers listed.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1930-1945
- Population
- Construction and conversion trades; crew; Norfolk Navy Yard personnel (Jan 1942 yard period)
- Limitations
- Curated photo/ship archive citing Navy photo numbers and NARA identifiers - documents dates, propulsion type, and duty stations corroborating DANFS, but is a secondary compilation, not an official record; contains no asbestos information. Its displacement (520 t.) and draft (13') differ from DANFS (465, 12'); variances carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bluebird-am72-02
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[3]DANFS specifications block + NavSource propulsion record (diesel plant, commercial-trawler construction) + Atlas shipyards.json Bath Iron Works record (1942 Drinker pipe-covering dust study; 1987 OSHA asbestos citations) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS specs + service narrative; NavSource specs block; shipyards.json record 'bath-iron-works' (ev-bath-iron-works-01, -02)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/type inference for this hull: a 1931 commercial steel fishing trawler converted under 1940-41 Navy contract would carry period-typical asbestos applications - exhaust-system lagging, machinery gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, and conversion-added insulation/fireproofing. The inference is materially narrower than for WWII steam combatants because the documented plant is a single Fairbanks-Morse diesel - no boilers, turbines, or steam distribution system, hence no boiler/turbine insulation or steam-line lagging story. Builder-yard context: Bath Iron Works is an Atlas tier-2 yard with documented asbestos handling (a 1942 Harvard Drinker industrial-hygiene study finding 'fairly serious dust risk' in pipe covering; 1987 OSHA asbestos-standard citations) - both postdating this hull's 1931 construction.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1930-1945
- Population
- Construction trades (Bath, 1930-31); conversion-yard workers (East Boston, 1940-41); crew (complement 39)
- Limitations
- Type/era and builder-yard inference only - no hull-level insulation schedule, conversion specification, or materials survey was located. The yard records postdate the build by a decade or more and say nothing about this vessel. Does not establish asbestos presence, quantity, or remaining material aboard; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bluebird-am72-03
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[4]McIndoe v. Huntington Ingalls Inc. (McIndoe v. Bath Iron Works Corp.), 817 F.3d 1170 (9th Cir. 2016) - official Ninth Circuit opinion PDF [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion at pp. 3-10 (factual recital; strict-liability and bare-metal analysis)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Published Ninth Circuit opinion establishing the maritime-law posture for asbestos claims involving Navy ships: naval warships are not 'products' for strict-products-liability purposes, and under the bare-metal defense a shipbuilder's liability exposure is limited to asbestos-containing materials it originally installed. The exposure vessels in that case were USS Coral Sea and USS Worden - the latter built by Bath Iron Works, the same yard that built this hull as trawler Maine (though Maine was a commercial vessel, not a Navy-contract build). The opinion's factual recital treats asbestos-containing pipe insulation aboard Navy ships as established in that record.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 2016 (opinion); 1960s exposure era
- Population
- Navy veterans (class context); shipbuilders (defense posture)
- Limitations
- Does not name this hull or any minesweeper; establishes doctrine, not facts, for Bluebird - and its ships were Navy-built steam combatants, materially different from a converted diesel trawler. A defense-side doctrinal framework: it describes how a hypothetical claim involving this vessel would be litigated, not evidence that asbestos was aboard. Does not establish exposure, product identity, or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bluebird-am72-04
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[5]Batch-1423 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC and mirrors; NavSource; web-index litigation and asbestos sweeps (Justia, vLex, court PDFs); Norwegian registry source; HyperWar IX table; CourtListener API v4 attempt [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-bluebird-am72-01 through sl-uss-bluebird-am72-08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no docketed case, ACM survey, abatement contract, insulation schedule, or disposal hazmat disclosure naming this hull was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). Web-index sweeps surfaced only name collisions (Bluebird Partners L.P., Blue Bird Food Products Co., Bluebird, Inc.) and asbestos-marketing listicles that place 'USS Bluebird AM-72' in generic minesweeper tables - banned sources, excluded even as leads, whose boilerplate 'boiler and engine rooms' exposure description is factually wrong for this diesel-powered hull. The CourtListener API sweep could not be executed: authenticated requests returned HTTP 429, 2,800/day quota already exhausted (~4.8-h reset); logged blocked per batch rule.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 2026-09-22
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the hull was scrapped abroad circa 1970 and any conversion-spec or survey documentation likely sits in undigitized NARA or Norwegian registry archives. Does not establish that asbestos is or is not present; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. The litigation surface is genuinely unsearched at the docket level pending the CourtListener reset.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bluebird-am72-05