Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]research packet ce-packet.md (3 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (with collision note) — real identity: USS Brambling (first Navy ship of the name)
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-brambling-amc39-pkt-ce-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Brambling I (AMc-39) - NHHC online entry (dated 13 December 2005), via Wayback Machine capture 2016-10-23; live NHHC page returns 404 as of 2026-10-05 [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS 'Brambling I (AMc-39)' entry, full text + spec block; Wayback capture 20161023211404
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull (verbatim chronology): 'The first Brambling (AMc-39) was laid down on 4 February 1941 at Ipswich, Mass., by W. A. Robinson, Inc.; launched on 7 August 1941; sponsored by Mrs. John McLennon; delivered to the Navy on 6 July 1941; modified for naval service and outfitted by the Boston Navy Yard; and commissioned there on 15 October 1941, Ens. John E. Johansen, USNR, in command.' Departed Boston 27 October for Yorktown, Va., arriving the 30th for Mine Warfare School training; reported to CinC Atlantic Fleet and was assigned initially to Submarine Squadron (SubRon) 1 at New London, Conn., beginning duty late November; about a month later reassigned to the 3d Naval District for patrol and minesweeping operations from the Montauk Section Base. After repairs at the New York Marine Basin in early March 1942, sailed 15 March for the Panama Canal Zone via Norfolk, Charleston, Miami, and Guantanamo Bay, reporting to the Commandant, 15th Naval District, at Coco Solo on 9 April. 'On 16 May 1942, Brambling was placed out of commission and then was placed in service as a district craft. The minesweeper spent the remainder of World War II patrolling the waters of the 15th Naval District.' October 1945 ordered to Charleston for inactivation; reported to Commandant, 6th Naval District, 22 October; placed out of service 12 February 1946 and laid up in the Wando River with the Charleston Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet; struck from the Navy list 26 February 1946; sold 23 October 1947 to Evald Sooter of Miami, Fla. Spec block: dp. 205; l. 97'5"; b. 22'5"; dr. 8'11"; s. 10.0 k.; cpl. 17; a. 2 .50-cal. mg.; cl. Accentor.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1941-1947
- Population
- W. A. Robinson construction trades (Feb-Oct 1941); Boston Navy Yard outfitting trades (1941); commissioned crew ~17 (1941-42); district-craft crew, 15th Naval District (1942-46)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; contains no asbestos or material content. The printed entry carries a chronology anomaly - 'delivered to the Navy on 6 July 1941' precedes 'launched on 7 August 1941' (likely Navy acquisition of the on-ways hull; carried as printed - see gaps). Live NHHC page 404s (standing NHHC link-rot defect); citation is the Wayback capture, labeled archived. A shorter verbatim transcription variant (losthistory.net/hazegray mirror) differs on sponsor name ('Mrs. J. McLemmon'), armament (1 .50-cal. mg.), and omits the Panama/Charleston detail - conflicts logged in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-brambling-amc39-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, Brambling (AMc 39) - designation timeline, specifications, commanding officer, post-Navy history [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/03039.htm header block, specifications block, commanding-officers block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: laid down 4 February 1941 by W. A. Robinson, Inc., Ipswich, MA; launched 7 August 1941; commissioned USS Brambling (AMc 39) 15 October 1941; decommissioned and placed in service 16 May 1942; placed out of service 12 February 1946; struck from the Naval Register 26 February 1946; 'Transferred to the Maritime Commission 27 October 1947 and sold'; acquired in 1950 by Evald Sooter of Miami, FL, for use as a fishing boat and renamed Spot Pack; acquired in 1953 by Spot Pack Inc. of Marathon, FL; 'Burned to the water line and sank 28 April 1954.' Specifications: displacement 205 t.; length 97'6"; beam 22'6"; draft 8'11"; speed 10 kts.; complement 17; armament one .50-cal. machine gun; propulsion one 400-shp Cooper Bessemer G.N.-8-STB diesel engine, one shaft. Commanding officer ENS John Edwin Johansen, USNR (15 October 1941). Call sign Nan-Baker-Able-Mike. No image of the ship is available in the archive.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1941-1954
- Population
- Crew (~17) 1941-46; commercial fishing crew as Spot Pack 1950-54
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - its milestone dates generally track DANFS/NVR but conflict with NHHC DANFS on details: it gives the disposal as a 27 October 1947 Maritime Commission transfer (vs NHHC's 23 October 1947 sale to Sooter) and dates Sooter's acquisition to 1950 (vs NHHC naming Sooter the 1947 buyer) - logged in gaps. Armament 'one .50-cal. mg.' conflicts with NHHC's '2 .50-cal. mg.'. Contains no asbestos content. Verified live 2026-10-05 (navsource.net - the .org domain is dead).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-brambling-amc39-02
-
[4]Saskatchewan Government Insurance Office v. Spot Pack, Inc., 242 F.2d 385 (5th Cir. 1957) (opinion by Brown, J., before Rives, Tuttle, and Brown, JJ.; decided 14 March 1957) [court_record]
- Locator
- 242 F.2d 385, opinion paragraphs 1-11 (facts); paras. 12-24 (warranty analysis)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- A published federal appellate decision names this hull in its post-Navy identity: 'The M/V Spot Pack, a converted Navy AMC minesweeper, had two diesel-driven generators, port and starboard. Installed originally to supply power for exploding magnetic mines, these generators supplied the power for all of the auxiliaries and the extensive refrigerated spaces needed and installed for the catch.' She underwent extensive repairs at a Miami shipyard September 1953 - March 1954 after an engine-room fire, left the yard 17 March 1954, and on 28 April 1954 'burned to the water's edge and sank' after a fire in the engine room during a fishing voyage. The appeal was the underwriters' challenge to the owner's recovery on a time hull policy; the Fifth Circuit affirmed - the alleged unseaworthiness (operating with the starboard circuit breaker removed pending overhaul) was neither a breach voiding the policy nor the established cause of the fire.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1953-1957 (events 1954; opinion 1957)
- Population
- M/V Spot Pack commercial fishing crew (1953-54); Miami shipyard repair workers (Sept 1953 - Mar 1954)
- Limitations
- OTHER LITIGATION - not asbestos litigation. A marine hull-insurance coverage dispute (perils of the sea; unseaworthiness defense); the asbestos-related content is nil. Ship-specific only for the vessel's post-Navy fate and equipment detail (confirms the minesweeping generator plant and the manner/date of loss). Affirmed judgment on coverage - makes no finding about materials aboard. Citation URL is the OpenJurist mirror (verified via firecrawl 2026-10-05; direct fetch returns 403 to automated requests); CourtListener cluster lookup pending - see search_ledger.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-brambling-amc39-03
-
[5]Lloyd's Register of Shipping, casualty returns 1954 (Lloyd's Register Foundation collection scan) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Lloyd's casualty table 1954, 'Burnt' section, alphabetical entry SPOT PACK
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Registry-level confirmation of the hull's loss: the Lloyd's casualty table for 1954 lists 'SPOT PACK ... 1941 | 147 | Amr | w.ms | Fishing | ... | Burnt and sank off Dry Tortugas. | 28th April' - a 147-gross-ton American wooden motor ship ('w.ms') built 1941, in fishing service, total loss by fire off the Dry Tortugas on 28 April 1954.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1954
- Population
- M/V Spot Pack crew (1954)
- Limitations
- Confirms loss circumstances and the wooden-hull registry description; contains no asbestos or material content and does not identify the hull's prior Navy designation (identity linkage to AMc-39 rests on the NavSource timeline, the 5th Cir. 'converted Navy AMC minesweeper' description, and the shared official number 259662).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-brambling-amc39-04
-
[6]HyperWar 'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945': AMc-39 USS Brambling page + Accentor/Acme class block; corroborated by shipbuildinghistory.com coastal-minesweeper and W. A. Robinson yard tables [other_primary]
- Locator
- HyperWar AMc-39 page class block ('Wooden-hulled ships designed for inshore operations'); shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net/us-navy-small/minesweepers2 (70 boats, 15 yards) and /us-emer-small/robinsonma (yard table, O/N 259662)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- The Accentor class is documented as 'wooden-hulled ships designed for inshore operations' - 70 wooden-hulled coastal minesweepers of a single 97-ft, 10-knot design built in 15 boatyards during WWII (shipbuildinghistory). Era inference for a small wooden diesel craft of 1941: candidate asbestos applications were confined to diesel exhaust lagging, machinery gaskets and packing, and electrical wiring insulation; with no steam plant, no boilers, and a wood hull, the bulk insulation pathways of larger warships do not apply. The minesweeping generator plant noted in the 1957 Fifth Circuit opinion is consistent with the craft's electrical/auxiliary machinery scope.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1941-1946
- Population
- W. A. Robinson construction trades (1941); Boston Navy Yard outfitting trades (1941); crew ~17 (1941-46)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package exists for AMc-39 (disposed 1947, decades before Navy asbestos surveying). Names plausible era applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. Wood hull materially reduces - but does not eliminate - the era-exposure hypothesis relative to steel steamships.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-brambling-amc39-05
-
[7]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s - spanning this hull's entire construction and service era (1941-1947 Navy custody; commercial life to 1954).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403, confirmed in prior batch sessions 2026-09-18; standing access gap) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-brambling-amc39-06
-
[8]NARA Atlanta finding aid, 'RG 26, 36, 41 - Vessel Documentation Case Files - Key West, Florida' [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA Atlanta RG 26/36/41 Key West finding aid, alphabetical table entry 'Spot Pack', O/N 259662, Acc. 61A1520
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The NARA Atlanta finding aid for Key West vessel-documentation case files lists 'Spot Pack', official number 259662 (oil screw), in Accession 61A1520 - a surviving Coast Guard vessel-documentation file for this hull's post-Navy commercial identity, held at NARA Atlanta.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1950-1954 (file coverage expected)
- Population
- Spot Pack commercial crew/owners (1950-54)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only - the finding aid confirms the file exists at NARA Atlanta; the file's contents (build/enrollment abstracts, ownership chain, inspection documents) are undigitized and unexamined. It may resolve the Sooter-acquisition-year conflict and document the fishing-vessel conversion; it is unlikely to contain asbestos information. O/N 259662 matches the shipbuildinghistory yard table for Brambling (AMc-39).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-brambling-amc39-07
-
[9]DANFS, Brambling II (YMS-109/AMS-42/MSC(O)-42) - NHHC online entry (dated 13 December 2005), via Wayback Machine capture 2021-02-26; live NHHC page returns 404 as of 2026-10-05 [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS 'Brambling II (YMS-109)' entry, full text; Wayback capture 20210226022401
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NAME COLLISION: a second, larger USS Brambling existed. Laid down as YMS-109 on 21 May 1941 at Manitowoc, Wis., by the Burger Boat Co.; commissioned 23 September 1942; served the 5th Naval District, the Pacific (Hawaii), and as a 9th Naval District naval-reserve training ship at Detroit; named Brambling and redesignated AMS-42 on 19 August 1947; recommissioned 12 February 1951 as a Mine Warfare School (Yorktown, Va.) school ship during Korea; redesignated MSC(O)-42 on 7 February 1955; decommissioned 17 July 1955; struck November 1959; sold 31 August 1961 to H. G. Mann of Jacksonville, Fla. The two hulls never held the name simultaneously (AMc-39 was struck 26 February 1946, before YMS-109's August 1947 renaming).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1941-1961 (second hull's span)
- Population
- AMS-42 crew and reserve trainees (1947-59) - NOT this hull
- Limitations
- Context row for identity disambiguation only: any 'USS Brambling' litigation or crew-claim reference dated 1947-1959 concerns the AMS-42 hull, not AMc-39; 1950s naval-reserve and school-ship service populations attach to AMS-42. NavSource dates the AMS-42 renaming to 1 September 1947 vs NHHC's 19 August 1947 - variant unresolved (gaps). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-brambling-amc39-08
-
[10]Batch-1574 search ledger (this record): archived NHHC DANFS entries I and II; losthistory.net/hazegray DANFS transcription; NavSource 11/03039; HyperWar AMc-39; NVR (no entry); CourtListener base queries; 5th Cir. opinion 242 F.2d 385 via OpenJurist; Lloyd's casualty 1954; NARA Atlanta finding aid; shipbuildinghistory yard tables; secondary web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-brambling-amc39-01 through -12 (plus -08a, -08b)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or qualifying asbestos litigation naming USS Brambling (AMc-39) or M/V Spot Pack was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was a wooden 97-ft diesel craft disposed in 1947 - predating Navy asbestos surveying - and was destroyed by fire in 1954, so no hull survives to survey.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 2026-10-05
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - era-standard gaskets, packing, exhaust lagging, and wiring insulation on a 1941 diesel craft are plausible but unproven for this hull. CourtListener base queries ran this session (sl-06, -07, -08: no qualifying hits); both asbestos-qualified hull variants returned zero (sl-08a). Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-brambling-amc39-09