Evidence
4 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-4).
-
[1]Naval History and Heritage Command, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), "Edgar G. Chase (DE-16)" (Robert J. Cressman, biography; John W. Watts, history; published 19 May 2017) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry specifications block and full service narrative ("Burges (BDE-16)..." through "...broken up for scrap.")
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: specifications (Evarts class; displacement 1,140 tons; length 289'5"; beam 35'2"; draft 8'3"; complement 156; armament 3x3-inch, 4x40mm, 9x20mm, 2 depth-charge tracks, 8 depth-charge projectors, 1 hedgehog projector). "Burges (BDE-16), intended for the Royal Navy under Lend Lease, was laid down on 14 March 1942 at Vallejo, Calif., by the Mare Island Navy Yard; christened on 26 September 1942 by Mrs. Anne Bennett Wichels, wife of Ernest D. Wichels, Chief Clerk of the Mare Island Navy Yard; reallocated to the U.S. Navy on 19 February 1943; and commissioned as Edgar G. Chase (DE-16) on 20 March 1943, Lt. Cmdr. John J. Morony in command." Service history: shakedown San Diego/Panama Canal/Bermuda (April-May 1943); antisubmarine and convoy-escort training with Escort Task Group 23.2 at the Sub Chaser Training Center (SCTC), Miami, Fla., June 1943-July 1944, including a 13 June 1943 hedgehog/depth-charge attack on a sonar contact (no confirmed kill; debris and diesel smell reported); carrier-escort voyage to Recife, Brazil (Aug. 1944); transatlantic convoy escort duty from New York/Norfolk to the British Isles and to Oran, Algeria, via Gibraltar (Sept. 1944-May 1945; convoys NY-119, UGS-64, GUS-65, UGS-75, GUS-77), deploying Foxer anti-torpedo gear on the UGS-64 crossing; return to SCTC Miami as a school ship (July-Sept. 1945); decommissioned at Charleston, S.C., 16 October 1945; stricken from the Navy list 1 November 1945; sold to Edward Goodman of Harris Structural Steel Co., New Jersey, 18 March 1947, and broken up for scrap.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- WWII crew, complement 156, 1943-1945; Mare Island Navy Yard construction trades, 1942-43
- Limitations
- Documents identity, construction, and complete service/disposition history for this hull; contains zero asbestos-related content - the DANFS narrative never mentions asbestos, insulation, or ACM. Does not establish or exclude ship-specific asbestos presence, quantity, or exposure. The live NHHC page returns HTTP 404 to a default user-agent (link rot consistent with BATCH-01's standing finding); full text was retrieved and verified via a browser-user-agent fetch of the same canonical URL on 2026-09-26.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burges-bde16-01
-
[2]Naval History and Heritage Command, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), "Burges" (Raymond A. Mann, 22 November 2005; published 29 June 2015) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS "Burges" entry, paragraphs following the Capt. Richard Rundell Burges namesake note ("The name Burges was originally assigned..." through "...scrapped on 31 July 1947.")
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official NHHC entry resolving the name-reassignment chain, quoted verbatim: "The name Burges was originally assigned to the Evarts-class destroyer escort, DE-16, initially allocated to the Royal Navy under lend-lease as BDE 16. Laid down on 14 March 1942 at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Burges was launched on 26 September under the sponsorship of Mrs. Ernest H. Wichels. After the reallocation of the warship to the United States Navy, she was renamed Edgar G. Chase (DE-16) (q.v.) on 19 February 1943." The entry then covers a categorically separate hull: "BDE-12 was laid down on 8 December 1942 by the Boston Navy Yard; later named Burges when Burges (BDE-16) was retained by the United States Navy and renamed Edgar G. Chase (DE-16); launched on 26 January 1943; transferred to the Royal Navy under the terms of the lend-lease agreement on 2 June 1943; and commissioned in the Royal Navy that same day." As HMS Burges (K.347) that hull served in the Atlantic (late 1943-early 1944), the North Sea (1944), and the English Channel (final months of the war); it "was returned to the United States Navy at New York on 27 February 1946," struck from the Navy list 28 March 1946, sold to George H. Nutman, Inc., of Brooklyn, N.Y. in November 1946, and scrapped 31 July 1947. It was never USN-commissioned.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- n/a (hull-identity/disambiguation record)
- Limitations
- This is the official NHHC source establishing that HMS Burges (K.347)/ex-BDE-12 (Boston Navy Yard) is a different physical hull from the BDE-16/Edgar G. Chase (DE-16) hull covered by this record - it must not be treated as an additional Atlas hull under the "Burges" name, and this record does not carry any evidence for it. Contains no asbestos content. Minor internal NHHC discrepancy noted in gaps: this entry credits the BDE-16 sponsor as "Mrs. Ernest H. Wichels" while the Edgar G. Chase entry (ev-01) names her "Mrs. Anne Bennett Wichels, wife of Ernest D. Wichels" - not reconciled here.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burges-bde16-02
-
[3]Batch-3097 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS (Edgar G. Chase; Burges - both retrieved and cross-checked); NPS NRHP/NHL focused search (no listing found for this hull); Naval Vessel Register (not applicable - vessel stricken 1 November 1945, predates the digital NVR); NARA online catalog (no digitized RG19 General Information Book located for this hull); HNSA historic-ship document archive (unreachable in this research pass - connection/DNS failure); general web search for museum or abatement disclosure (none - the ship was scrapped in 1947 and is not preserved, so no drydock/restoration abatement record of the kind available for museum hulls like Laffey or O'Brien can exist). [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-burges-bde16-01 through sl-uss-burges-bde16-07
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No ship-specific asbestos documentation (survey, abatement record, hazmat disclosure) was located for this hull, and no authoritative class/era technical source specific to the Evarts-class GMT (diesel-electric) engineering plant was located either, in the sources searched.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 2026-09-26
- Limitations
- Absence of a located record does not establish absence of asbestos aboard this hull during its 1943-1945 commission. Numerous law-firm marketing pages (e.g., shepardlawfirm.com, asbestos-ships.com, mesothelioma.com, shraderlaw.com, flintlaw.com) publish templated "ship exposure risk" content for this exact hull name/number; these were reviewed and excluded as non-authoritative advertising content per the hard sourcing rule, not treated as evidence, and one contain a factual error (describing DE-class engineering as a "steam propulsion plant," which is incorrect for the diesel-electric Evarts class).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burges-bde16-03
-
[4]CourtListener API v4 authenticated search, queries "Edgar G. Chase" and "DE-16" (type=opinion), via the fleet's rate-limited helper (/Users/charlesfletcher/devin-prompts/cl-auth-search.py) [court_record]
- Locator
- cl-auth-search.py stderr output, four attempts between 2026-09-26T18:4x and 2026-09-26T19:0x UTC (session-local timestamps)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener litigation sweep for this hull could not be completed in this research pass. Every attempt (four, spaced across the session) returned the helper's fleet-wide pacing-throttle message rather than search results; per hard-rule guidance this is a shared hourly/burst limit, not the daily quota, and retrying in a tight loop is prohibited. No opinion or docket hit was recorded as qualifying, non-qualifying, or a name collision - the sweep is simply unperformed, not a negative finding.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 2026-09-26
- Limitations
- Do not read this row as "no litigation exists" - it documents an incomplete search caused by shared infrastructure contention, not a search result. "Burges" itself is a high-collision search term (common surname; also the unrelated HMS Burges/K.347/BDE-12 hull) and would need careful per-hit classification if searched. This sweep should be completed and this row corrected in a follow-up pass before the record is treated as final on litigation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burges-bde16-04