Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]DANFS, Bull I (DE-693/APD-78) (build, conversion, service narrative, disposal; canonical NHHC page verified via Wayback capture 2025-12-09 - live page serves 404; entry by Robert J. Cressman, 23 November 2005) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS 'Bull I' entry (bull-i.html), spec block + full service narrative + disposal paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 15 December 1942 at Bay City, Mich., by Defoe Shipbuilding Co.; launched 25 March 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Ruth P. Bull; taken down the Mississippi River to the Naval Base at Algiers, La., in July 1943; commissioned 12 August 1943, Lt. Duane W. Farnham, USNR, in command. Atlantic convoy escort (Curacao-Londonderry cycle; CortDiv 19, TG 21.9; engine-room electrical fire from seawater ingress through an exhaust blower duct, January 1944; hurricane damage 3 February 1944; Boston-Belfast convoy cycles through 1 May 1944; availability at the New York Navy Yard; depth-charge/hedgehog attack on a suspected submarine 24 July 1944). Moored at Todd Shipyards Corp., Brooklyn, 28 July 1944 for conversion to a fast transport; redesignated APD-78 on 31 July 1944 (troops berthed amidships; 5-inch enclosed mount replaced the three 3-inch guns; 40mm Bofors replaced the 1.1-inch mount); underway in new configuration 26 October 1944. Pacific: Panama Canal 13 November; embarked UDT 14 at Pearl Harbor 7 December; Lingayen Gulf San Fabian reconnaissance fire support January 1945; downed-pilot rescue off Siguijori Island; Iwo Jima (TG 52.4) preferred/alternate beach reconnaissance and screening February-March 1945; Okinawa 26 March through end of organized resistance, screening and beach-recon support; voyage repairs and UDT rehearsals at San Pedro; postwar Philippine Sea Frontier service and three China voyages. Decommissioned San Diego 5 June 1947; placed in Pacific Reserve Fleet 16 June 1947; struck from the Navy list 15 June 1966; sold to Taiwan 12 July 1966, renamed Lu Shan (PF-36). Spec block: dp 1,400; l. 306'0"; b. 37'0"; dr. 13'6"; s. 23.6 k.; cpl. 213; a. 3 3", 4 1.1", 8 20mm., 2 dct., 8 dcp., 1 dcp. (hh.), 3 21" tt.; cl. Buckley. Three battle stars (WWII).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1966
- Population
- Defoe Shipbuilding construction trades 1942-43; New York Navy Yard and Todd Shipyards (Erie Basin, Brooklyn) yard/availability trades 1944; wartime crew (design complement 213) plus embarked UDT 14 and troops
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The live NHHC page returns HTTP 404; text verified via the 2025-12-09 Wayback capture. Strike date (15 June 1966) conflicts with NavSource (16 June) - conflict carried in gaps, not silently reconciled.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bull-apd78-01
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[2]USS Bull ship-submitted war history, letter to the Secretary of the Navy (subject 'U.S.S. BULL - History of'), scanned image hosted by NavSource (NHHC collection document) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-693 page, 'War History' image (06693wh.jpg), Chapter III conversion paragraph and cover-letter block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The ship's own end-of-war history submission corroborates the hull narrative at primary-source level and fixes the conversion facility exactly: 'On July 28, 1944, the U.S.S. BULL was moored at Todd Shipyards Corporation, Erie Basin, Brooklyn, New York for conversion from the DE-693 to the APD-78'; conversion completed and the ship departed New York 26 October 1944 for Norfolk. Chapter I covers construction by Defoe Shipbuilding of Bay City, the Mississippi float-down to Algiers, La., and commissioning 12 August 1943 under Lt. Duane W. Farnham, USNR; Chapters II-III cover TG 21.9 Atlantic convoy escort, the conversion, Panama transit 13 November 1944, UDT 14 embarkation, Lingayen/Iwo Jima/Okinawa operations, and decommissioning at San Diego 5 June 1947.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-1947
- Population
- Ship's company 1943-1945 (document authored by the ship's officers)
- Limitations
- A primary ship-submitted document, but accessed only as a NavSource-hosted scan of the NHHC original - image legibility limits line-level citation; contents describe operations, not materials or insulation. The scan is cited as an archival document image; the underlying letter sits in NHHC collections.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bull-apd78-02
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[3]NavSource Online Amphibious Photo Archive, USS Bull (APD-78) ex DE-693 (building/operational data, campaign table, CO roster, APD spec block; companion DE-693 photo index) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.org/archives/10/04/04078.htm (APD page) and navsource.org/archives/06/693.htm (DE photo index, Building and Operational Data)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource chronology for this hull: Buckley-class destroyer escort / Charles Lawrence-class high speed transport; keel laid 14 December 1942 by Defoe Shipbuilding Co., Bay City, Mich.; launched and christened 25 March 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Ruth P. Bull; transported down the Mississippi to the Naval Base at Algiers, La., July 1943; commissioned 12 August 1943, LT. Duane W. Farnham USNR; conversion to APD commenced at Todd Shipyard Corp., Brooklyn, N.Y., 28 July 1944 (completed 26 October 1944); reclassified APD-78 31 July 1944; flagship of TransDiv 104 (CAPT. R. D. Williams) in the Asiatic-Pacific theater; campaigns - Lingayen Gulf landings 4-18 January 1945, Iwo Jima 16 February-6 March 1945, Okinawa Gunto 26 March-8 May 1945; postwar Navy Occupation Service (Asia clasp) and China Service periods December 1945-April 1946; decommissioned 5 June 1947; laid up San Pedro Sub Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet, towed to the San Diego reserve facility in the 1960s; struck from the Naval Register 16 June 1966; transferred to the Republic of China 12 July 1966 as ROCS Lu Shan (PF-36); struck by the Taiwanese Navy May 1995 and broken up for scrap. APD spec block: 1,400 t (lt) / 2,130 t (fl); 306' x 37' x 12'7"; 23.6 kt trial; 6,000 nm at 12 kt; complement 12 officers + 192 enlisted; troop accommodations 12 officers + 150 enlisted; four LCVPs; one 5"/38, three twin 40mm, six 20mm, two depth-charge tracks; propulsion two Combustion Engineering 'D' Express boilers 435 psi/750F, two GE turbines (turbo-electric drive), 12,000 shp, two shafts.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1995
- Limitations
- NavSource is a secondary volunteer compilation - corroborating chronology, not a primary record. It supplies details DANFS lacks (conversion start/completion dates, the boiler maker Combustion Engineering, reserve-layup group) and two date conflicts: keel laid 14 December 1942 vs DANFS 15 December; struck 16 June 1966 vs DANFS 15 June - both carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bull-apd78-03
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[4]Shipbuilding History (Tim Colton reference list), Defoe Shipbuilding Bay City MI yard table - hull 266 'Bull (DE 693)'; corroborating program context from Bert C. Brennan, 'Fighting Ships from Bay City,' Inland Seas (July 1945), republished by the National Museum of the Great Lakes (nmgl.org/fighting-ships-from-bay-city/) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipbuildinghistory.com Defoe yard table, hull 266 row
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Defoe yard list independently corroborates this hull's construction lineage: Defoe yard hull 266, 'Bull (DE 693)', US Navy, destroyer escort, 1,400d tons, 306 ft, delivered/commissioned 12-Aug-43; disposition 'APD 78, to Taiwan 1966 as Lu Shan (PF 36), scrapped 1995'. Adjacent rows (Bunch DE 694 -> APD 79; Rich DE 695; Spangler DE 696) confirm the same Defoe DE-to-APD conversion block; Bull was the lead Defoe DE hull. A contemporaneous July 1945 trade-press account documents the Defoe DE/APD program this hull opened: hulls built upside-down by the 'roll-over' method (50-foot eccentric wheels, ~5-minute righting), 'steam turbo-electric drive, oil fired express type boilers', and freshwater delivery ~2,100 miles from Bay City via the Saginaw River, Lake Huron, the Straits of Mackinac, Lake Michigan, the Chicago drainage canal, Illinois River, and Mississippi River to New Orleans, with propellers removed by divers and pontoons raising the draft - consistent with DANFS's record of this hull 'taken down the Mississippi River to the Naval Base at Algiers, La.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1943 (construction); 1966/1995 (disposition)
- Population
- Defoe Shipbuilding construction trades 1942-43
- Limitations
- Secondary reference compilation (shipbuildinghistory.com) built from yard/registry data - corroboration, not a primary record. The '12-Aug-43' table entry is the delivery/commissioning column, consistent with DANFS's commissioning date. Brennan (1945) documents the Defoe program generally and does not name Bull; the hull-specific claim that Bull alone was built conventionally while roll-over jigs were prepared is secondary-sourced (Wikipedia) - carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bull-apd78-04
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[5]NavSource APD-78 spec block (propulsion: two Combustion Engineering 'D' Express boilers, 435 psi/750F; GE turbo-electric drive, 12,000 shp) + DANFS spec block (cl. Buckley, cpl. 213) + Atlas shipyard dataset records for todd-shipyards and brooklyn-navy-yard [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource APD-78 spec block (propulsion section); Buckley class-profile boiler-block map (class-f worktree); shipyards.json records 'todd-shipyards' and 'brooklyn-navy-yard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/plant inference: this hull is a Buckley-class (TE turbo-electric) destroyer escort converted to a Charles Lawrence-class high speed transport - the Buckley plant is one of only two WWII destroyer-escort designs with a full superheated-steam installation: 2 'D' express-type boilers at 435 psi/750F feeding GE turbine-generators and electric drive motors, 12,000 shp (NavSource APD spec block; class-profile block map assigns Combustion Engineering boilers to the Defoe-built DE-693 block). A 1942-43 plant of this type would have carried period-standard asbestos-containing boiler and fireroom insulation, steam-line lagging, turbine lagging, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, and deck coverings. The July-October 1944 APD conversion at Todd Shipyards Corp., Erie Basin, Brooklyn added troop berthing amidships during the yard period; Todd is a tier-2 asbestos-era yard in the Atlas dataset (WWII-era insulation tear-out/installation work litigation-documented at the corporate record level, Hansen v. Johns-Manville), and the May 1944 availability site, New York Naval Shipyard (Brooklyn Navy Yard), is tier-3 with litigation-documented asbestos exposure. Builder Defoe Shipbuilding is absent from the Atlas yard dataset - no yard-level asbestos record can be associated.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1947 (construction, conversion, commissioned service); ROCN service 1966-1995
- Population
- Defoe Shipbuilding construction trades 1942-43; Todd Erie Basin conversion trades 1944; crew ~213 plus embarked UDT/troops
- Limitations
- Class/era and yard-level inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No insulation survey, material schedule, or conversion work package for this hull is public. Does not quantify material, does not establish any individual's exposure; the hull was scrapped in 1995, so present-day ACM status is moot. Yard documentation speaks to facility conditions, not to materials installed aboard this vessel.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bull-apd78-05
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[6]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO HRD-80-2 product page (report digest)
- Finding type
- regulatory
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-management program: standing policy from 1975 removed asbestos insulation only when damaged or when required for repairs, modified in 1979 to selective replacement in high-maintenance areas - meaning original-era insulation typically remained in place unless a yard period disturbed it. For this hull the window is largely academic: Bull decommissioned 1947, lay in the Pacific Reserve Fleet (San Pedro then San Diego) until struck 1966 and sold to Taiwan - leaving U.S. custody before the 1975 policy existed. GAO fieldwork yards were Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1975-1979 (policy window)
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers, program-wide
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation only - the report does not name this hull, does not survey this hull, and postdates its U.S. service by nearly a decade. gao.gov blocks automated fetches (HTTP 403); product-page description used.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bull-apd78-06
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[7]Golden Arrow Research Navy deck-log request index (USS Bull (DE-693) listed among hulls whose deck logs are held at NARA and retrievable on request) + NARA RG 19 BuShips contract files (Todd Erie Basin conversion work package) and RG 181 New York Naval Shipyard records - undigitized leads [other_primary]
- Locator
- goldenarrowresearch.com Navy deck-logs index (DE-693 entry); NARA RG 24 / RG 19 / RG 181
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads located but not reviewed: NARA holds deck logs for USS Bull (DE-693) retrievable on request (Golden Arrow index), covering commissioned service 1943-47; the Todd Shipyards Erie Basin APD-conversion work package (July-October 1944) would sit in BuShips contract files (RG 19) at NARA, and the May 1944 New York Navy Yard availability records in RG 181 New York Naval Shipyard files. These are the undigitized sources most likely to carry hull-level material evidence.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-1947
- Limitations
- Lead status only - contents unreviewed; deck logs record operations, not materials, and conversion work packages may or may not itemize insulation. Presence in an index does not establish any asbestos content in the documents.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bull-apd78-07
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[8]Batch-2455 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS (canonical via Wayback); ship-submitted war history (NavSource scan); NavSource DE/APD pages; shipbuildinghistory Defoe yard list; Golden Arrow deck-log index; VA BVA decisions; CourtListener exact-name, hull-number, and 'aboard' queries; Atlas shipyard dataset; general web sweep [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-bull-apd78-01 through sl-uss-bull-apd78-13
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-693/APD-78: no hull ACM survey, no abatement or hazmat disclosure, no material schedule, and no qualifying asbestos litigation names the vessel. CourtListener 'USS Bull' opinion and docket queries returned zero results; 'APD-78' and 'aboard the Bull' opinion queries returned zero results; the 'DE-693' opinion query returned 7 hits, all docket-entry-number ('DE ###') or unrelated-matter collisions - none naming the vessel and none asbestos; the 'Bull' asbestos query returned 209 hits, all surname/firm-name collisions (e.g., 'Thompson, McNaboe, Ashley & Bull'; Witherington v. A.H. Bull & Co.) - none naming the vessel. Web sweep surfaced only law-firm marketing list pages (asbestos-ships.com, mesotheliomahelp.org, simmonsfirm.com - excluded per batch rules), which assert no ship-specific record.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 2026-09-26
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1942-43 steam-plant escort scrapped in 1995 plausibly carried era materials to disposal, but that is inference. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-bull-apd78-08
