Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
-
[1]research packet ef-packet.md (4 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: Queue: USS BRANCH DD-197
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-branch-dd197-pkt-ef-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, 'Branch (Destroyer No. 197 / DD-197),' expanded entry (February 2016), verbatim transcription via Tin Can Sailors destroyers.org; original Vol. I pp. 150-51 text via hazegray mirror (live NHHC page returns 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Expanded DANFS ship history, full narrative 1918-1943; Vol. I specification block via https://losthistory.net/hazegray/danfs/destroy/dd197txt.htm
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS identifies Destroyer No. 197 (DD-197 from 17 July 1920) as a Clemson-class destroyer laid down 25 October 1918 by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.; launched 19 April 1919, sponsored by Miss Laurie O'Brien Branch; delivered to Norfolk Navy Yard 3 April 1920; commissioned 26 July 1920, Comdr. Frank H. Roberts. Service: Squadron 3/Division 37, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet; October 1920 Annapolis engineering test; President-elect Harding welcoming duty December 1920; two boilers disabled by buckled brickwork two hours into 15 December 1920 full-power trials (repaired alongside tender Lebanon, AG-2); reduced-commission operations at roughly half complement out of Charleston and Narragansett Bay 1921-22; decommissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard 11 August 1922. Recommissioned 4 December 1939 (Comdr. Dennis L. Ryan) as one of 77 destroyers/light minelayers returned for the Neutrality Patrol; flagship of Destroyer Division 68 with Satterlee, Mason, and Hunt; January-February 1940 Philadelphia drydockings for port-shaft/propeller damage; patrols in the Florida Strait and off Puerto Rico; reserve training cruises to Guantanamo Bay and the Southern Drill Grounds; departed for Halifax 3 October 1940 and was decommissioned and transferred to the Royal Navy there 8 October 1940 in the fourth of six destroyers-for-bases groups; stricken from the Navy list 8 January 1941.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Documents ship identity, builder, dates, machinery casualty events, and service history - not materials or asbestos content. The December 1920 boiler-brickwork repair and 1939-40 reactivation refit are material-disturbance points only; no insulation composition is stated. Live NHHC DANFS page returns 404; verbatim transcriptions cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-branch-dd197-01
-
[3]DANFS, 'Branch (Destroyer No. 197 / DD-197),' expanded entry (February 2016) - HMS Beverley service narrative; verbatim transcription via destroyers.org [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Expanded DANFS ship history, Royal Navy section 1940-1943
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS records the Royal Navy service and loss of this hull as HMS Beverley (H.64): renamed for towns in Yorkshire and Massachusetts and commissioned at Halifax 8 October 1940, Comdr. E. F. Fitzgerald, RN; 3rd 'Town' Flotilla; arrived Belfast 24 October 1940. 1941: three unsuccessful attacks on U-boats (March, June, October); escorted 9th Motor Launch Flotilla to Gibraltar and supported Malta-bound convoys; towed the sabotaged French freighter Isac 19-21 July. April 1942: escorted Convoy PQ-14 to North Russia; on 1 May 1942 helped defend QP-11 against German destroyers Hermann Schoemann (Z-7), Z-24, and Z-25 in a snowstorm action. 4 February 1943: with HMS Vimy sank U-187 while escorting SC-118. March 1943: defended convoys HX-229/SC-122, escaping torpedoes from U-616 and depth-charging U-228, U-530, and U-600. 9 April 1943: collided with SS Cairnvolona in thick weather while escorting ON-176 about 360 miles southeast of Greenland, crippling ASDIC and degaussing gear. 11 April 1943: torpedoed by U-188 at 52 deg 19 min N, 40 deg 28 min W; sank quickly with 139 dead including her commanding officer; four survivors.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Documents Royal Navy operations and loss, not materials or asbestos. Secondary sources (NavSource) record Devonport, Tyne (March-May 1941), and Belfast (August-September 1941, Type 286 radar) refits - carried as context, not verified in the official record reviewed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-branch-dd197-02
-
[4]Navy Department, 'Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels' (1924), Destroyers - First Line (DD) tables, pp. 52-56 (shipscribe.com reproduction of the official GPO publication) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Destroyers - First Line table, BRANCH DD197 row (p. 54 machinery; adjacent pages: dimensions/trial/builder-date rows)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The Navy Department's Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels (1924 edition) lists Branch (DD-197) by name in the Destroyers - First Line tables: 2 Westinghouse geared turbines; 4 White-Forster boilers (oil-burning); shaft horsepower 27,500 (main engines) with 29,390 total maximum power on trial; trial speed 36.48 knots; 4 funnels, 2 masts; length overall 314 ft 4 in, 310 ft between perpendiculars; normal displacement 1,215 tons, 1,308 tons load-and-fuel; builder Newport News S.B. under a cost-plus-fee contract; dates consistent with DANFS (laid down 25 October 1918, launched 19 April 1919, delivered 3 April 1920, commissioned 26 July 1920).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Official per-hull machinery and dimensions - a stronger basis for the propulsion summary than class data. It documents plant type (White-Forster boilers, Westinghouse turbines), not insulation composition; no asbestos content appears in the tables. Complement column reads 104 against DANFS's 122 - discrepancy in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-branch-dd197-03
-
[5]National Archives, Ship Plan Index, BRANCH DD-197 entries [other_primary]
- Locator
- Ship Plan Index, BRANCH / DD-197 rows
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA's Ship Plan Index lists BRANCH (DD-197) in Record Group 19 under Alphabetical Ship Drawings (NAID 53483817) and Microfilm (NAID 175668481). These are hull-specific drawing series - the archival lead for material-level research on this vessel; the drawings were not retrieved or inspected.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- An index entry establishes that record series exist, not what the drawings contain. It does not establish asbestos aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-branch-dd197-04
-
[6]National Archives, Special List 44 - Named Vessels, Branch (DD-197) entries [other_primary]
- Locator
- Special List 44, Branch (DD-197) rows
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA's Special List 44 indexes Branch (DD-197) deck logs for 26 July 1920 - 11 August 1922 (first commission) and 4 December 1939 - 8 October 1940 (reactivation through transfer). NARA's asbestos research guide states generally that deck logs can help date ship work but do not themselves provide direct evidence of asbestos; the logs were not reviewed.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- The index identifies log coverage, not specific repairs or materials. The general deck-log limitation is from https://www.archives.gov/research/military/navy/guided-topics/asbestos.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-branch-dd197-05
-
[7]NARA, 'Researching Asbestos aboard US Naval Vessel up through 1961'; U.S. GAO, HRD-80-2, 'Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure' (1979); Ships' Data 1924 machinery row (ev-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA guide (record-series identification); GAO HRD-80-2 (Navy-wide application context)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Design/era inference only. This hull's documented plant - four oil-fired White-Forster water-tube boilers feeding two Westinghouse geared steam turbines at 27,500-29,390 shp - is the steam configuration for which period Navy construction standardly used asbestos-containing boiler and turbine insulation, steam-line lagging, gaskets, and packing; DANFS-documented disturbance points are the 1918-1920 build at Newport News, the December 1920 boiler repair, the 1939-40 Philadelphia reactivation refit, and Royal Navy refits 1940-41 (secondary sourcing). NARA's asbestos research guide identifies RG 19 insulation/lagging drawings (S39), piping drawings (S48), ship-specific correspondence, and destroyer General Information Books as the record series that could resolve material content for a ship of this type; GAO HRD-80-2 documents thermal insulation of machinery, equipment, and piping as a major Navy asbestos application. No cited item names a product installed on this hull.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Class/era and design inference only - no hull-level material schedule, insulation spec, or survey exists in the located public record, and the hull is a sunken wreck. NARA's guide concentrates on 1941-1961 and GAO's 1979 review concerns later programs; neither supports a finding of asbestos aboard this 1918-1920-built hull. No product is normalized from this row.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-branch-dd197-06
-
[8]Scoped negative finding from DANFS, Ships' Data 1924, NARA Ship Plan Index, NARA Special List 44, and NARA asbestos research guide [other_primary]
- Locator
- Search ledger sl-01 through sl-08; underlying NARA drawings and deck logs not examined
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Scoped negative finding: the reviewed official sources - DANFS (expanded and Vol. I texts), Ships' Data 1924 ship row, NARA Ship Plan Index and Special List 44 index entries, and NARA's asbestos research guide - contain no ship-specific documentation of asbestos aboard DD-197 / HMS Beverley: no survey, installation specification, removal or abatement record, product identification, or exposure finding. Ship-specific asbestos presence and individual exposure therefore remain unknown in this record.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- A scoped absence in reviewed public pages is not proof the ship contained no asbestos - a 1918-20 steam-plant hull makes period ACM plausible but unproven here, and because the hull was sunk in 1943 there is no surviving material to survey. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-branch-dd197-07
-
[9]CourtListener API v4 search, type=o, query "DD-197", 27 September 2026 (3 results, all identifier collisions); "USS Branch" opinion and docket queries blocked [court_record]
- Locator
- Search ledger sl-06; DD-197 hits: cluster_ids 6357690, 7857622, 9455592
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Partial CourtListener sweep through the required fleet helper. A hull-number opinion search ('DD-197') completed: 3 hits, all New York Appellate Division decisions (Rattner v. Fessler, 202 A.D.3d 1011 (2022); Emigrant Bank v. Carrera, 2022 NY Slip Op 04950; Deutsche Bank Natl. Trust Co. v. Mangi, 222 A.D.3d 942 (2023)) - mortgage/foreclosure-style litigation in which 'DD-197' is an identifier or document reference, not a vessel reference; none is asbestos litigation and none names this hull. The exact-name opinion search ('USS Branch') and all docket (type=r) queries were denied by the fleet pacing guard before any API response.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Partial sweep, not a completed negative. The hull-number opinion index carries only identifier collisions; the exact-name opinion sweep and both docket sweeps never ran - qualifying asbestos litigation and 'USS Branch' / 'HMS Beverley' collisions remain unclassified until those queries complete.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-branch-dd197-08