Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]DANFS, Burton Island (AG-88) - verbatim transcription (live NHHC page returned 404 on 2026-09-20; hazegray/losthistory mirror used per standing link-rot workaround) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Full DANFS entry, specification block and service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS documents: named for an island near the Delaware coast; launched 30 April 1946 by Western Pipe and Steel Co., San Pedro, CA; commissioned 28 December 1946, Commander G. Ketchum in command (design block: dp 3,575; 269' x 63'6" x 25'9"; 16 k.; cpl. 353; one 5-inch gun; class 'Burton Island'). Departed San Diego 17 January 1947 for the Ross Sea, rendezvousing 8 February with TF 68 on the First (1947) Antarctic Development Project (Operation Highjump); returned San Pedro 31 March 1947. July-August 1947 Point Barrow Expedition (helicopter ice reconnaissance). Second (1947) Antarctic Development Project (Operation Windmill): Shackleton Ice Shelf 1 January 1948, hydrographic/geological surveys and demolition experiments; ice-damage repairs at Long Beach. April 1948-December 1956: 19 Arctic/Alaskan cruises (Point Barrow Resupply 1948-51, MICOWEX-50A, Beaufort Sea and Bering Sea oceanographic expeditions, MSTS Project 572) with overhauls/repairs between cruises at Long Beach, Mare Island, or Bremerton (Puget Sound) Naval Shipyards. Redesignated AGB-1 March 1949 while under repair at Long Beach.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1946-1956 (entry coverage); entry compiled Volume I era
- Population
- USN crew (~353 design complement); shipyard workers at Long Beach, Mare Island, and Puget Sound (Bremerton) NSYs during documented availabilities
- Limitations
- DANFS entry text ends at the March 1949 AGB-1 redesignation (Volume I-era entry); Navy service 1949-1966 is not covered by this source and is carried via secondary compilations (see ev-06). Contains no asbestos, insulation, or materials information - documents repeated naval-shipyard availabilities at Long Beach, Mare Island, and Bremerton but not the scope of material disturbed in each.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burton-island-ag88-01
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[2]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 'Burton Island, 1966' cutter file (AG-88/AGB-1/WAGB-283), incl. quoted Maritime Administration letter of 21 November 1995 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Cutter file: characteristics block, Cutter History narrative, MARAD letter excerpt, commanding-officer list
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- USCG Historian's cutter file documents: contract cost $9,880,037; transfer from the Navy with all remaining Navy icebreakers on 15 December 1966, recommissioned as USCGC Burton Island (WAGB-283); homeported Long Beach, CA, then Alameda, CA from mid-1977; eight Operation Deep Freeze deployments 1967-1978 ('68, '69, '70, '71, '73, '75, '76, '77, '78 listed); North Slope oceanographic survey Aug-Sep 1971, Cook Inlet survey Feb-Mar 1972, Alaskan research Jun-Jul 1973, Arctic deployments Jul-Sep 1976 and 9 Jul-8 Sep 1977; SAR missions at Wellington, NZ, December 1976; decommissioned 9 May 1978. Disposal per quoted MARAD letter: sold by auction under PD-X-1033 dated 17 August 1980; awarded to Levin Metals Corporation, 1800 Monterey Highway, San Jose, CA, on 7 October 1980 under contract MA-9868 for $261,000; 'scrapped as of April 28, 1982.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1966-1982 (cutter file); MARAD letter 1995
- Population
- USCG crew (~219 reported for class, secondary); McMurdo/Arctic embarked science parties; Levin Metals scrapping workers (1980-82)
- Limitations
- Authoritative for USCG-era service and disposal. Enumerated Deep Freeze deployments number nine ('68-'78 list) against the file's own 'eight' count - carried as written. Contains no asbestos, insulation-material, or hazmat information; the MARAD letter confirms the scrapping contract and completion date but not hazardous-material handling.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burton-island-ag88-02
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[3]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, Wind-class 'Class History' (Burton Island cutter file) - design provenance and materials [other_primary]
- Locator
- Class History section, Burton Island cutter file
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- The USCG class history documents the Wind-class design: diesel-electric plant (six Fairbanks-Morse diesels driving Westinghouse DC generators and motors - no boilers and no steam distribution), compressed cork hull insulation, close-spaced framing and welded plating, heeling tanks, and a detachable bow propeller. The diesel-electric configuration eliminated the boiler/steam-pipe insulation load typical of contemporaneous steam-driven auxiliaries; remaining asbestos-relevant materials of the 1946 build era (engine-exhaust lagging, machinery gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, deck coverings, adhesives, brake linings) are class-level inference, not documented aboard this hull.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- Class design 1941-1946; entry accessed 2026-09-20
- Population
- Western Pipe & Steel construction trades (1946); engine-room and maintenance crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Design-level documentation naming the class, not a hull survey. The cork-insulation statement is a documented design material; the full materials list for this hull is not public and no source located states whether asbestos-containing materials were installed, abated, or retained aboard AG-88/WAGB-283. The source itself does not use the word 'asbestos.'
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burton-island-ag88-03
-
[4]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- AJIM 11(3):359-373, abstract and article
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical study documents extensive asbestos use as fireproofing and insulation in U.S. shipbuilding during WWII - the specifications and supply regime under which this 1946 commercial-yard naval build immediately followed on.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1940-1945 era documented; article 1987
- Population
- WWII-era shipyard workers and ship crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarship; does not name this vessel or class and does not establish that asbestos was or remained aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation. The study period ends 1945; application to a postwar 1946-commissioned hull is itself an inference.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burton-island-ag88-04
-
[5]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 the Navy's asbestos-protection program and its insulation-removal policies, with fieldwork at Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards; Long Beach Naval Shipyard was one of this hull's documented overhaul/repair yards between Antarctic and Arctic deployments (DANFS).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1979 (report); hull availabilities 1947-1966
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers, incl. Long Beach NSY (documented overhaul yard for this hull)
- Limitations
- Yard/program-level documentation, not hull-specific; supports era context for asbestos exposure of Navy yard workers during availabilities at the named yards - not materials installed on, removed from, or retained aboard this hull. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403); content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burton-island-ag88-05
-
[6]NavSource Online photo index, USCGC Burton Island (WAGB-283) ex-USS Burton Island (AGB-1/AG-88) - timeline and photo captions; corroborating secondary deployment table at hullnumber.com (crew-contributed) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource AGB-1/WAGB-283 index timeline and captions; hullnumber.com/AGB-1 deployment table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Secondary compilations covering the Navy-era gap left by the DANFS entry (which ends at the 1949 redesignation): Operation Deep Freeze III deployment November 1957-April 1958 including a Soviet Mirny station visit and February 1958 assistance to the iced-in Japanese vessel Soya off Showa Station; a 1962 Arctic excursion with USS Skate (SSN-578) and USS Seadragon (SSN-584) for under-ice torpedo tests; an Antarctic deployment October 1963-March 1964; and a 29 December 1965 photograph placing Burton Island with Atka (AGB-3) and Glacier (AGB-4) moving an iceberg near McMurdo Station.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1957-1965
- Population
- USN crew, polar deployments 1957-1965
- Limitations
- Secondary compilations only (NavSource reference archive; hullnumber.com crew-contributed log; Wikipedia summary) - not verified against deck logs or official operational records. Included to bound the Navy-era record honestly between the DANFS cutoff (1949) and the USCG transfer (1966); nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burton-island-ag88-06
-
[7]Batch-690 search ledger (this record): DANFS mirror; USCG Historian's Office cutter file; NavSource; CourtListener opinion search; MARAD disposal letter (as quoted by USCG); secondary deployment compilations [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-burton-island-ag88-01 through sl-uss-burton-island-ag88-09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no hull survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed asbestos case naming USS Burton Island / USCGC Burton Island / AG-88 / AGB-1 / WAGB-283 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The single CourtListener opinion-index hit for the exact name is a Vermont decision concerning Burton's Island state park on Lake Champlain - a name collision, not this vessel.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 2026-09-20
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1946 naval build is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials in non-steam applications. CourtListener coverage was partial: the API hit its shared-IP daily cap and docket-level and asbestos-qualified queries were blocked (CloudFront 403), so litigation coverage is logged as incomplete rather than exhausted. Does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burton-island-ag88-07
-
[8]NARA record-group mapping: RG 24 (Navy deck logs, Archives II College Park); RG 26 (USCG records incl. cutter logs); Bureau of Ships contract/outfitting records for the Western Pipe & Steel build; MARAD disposal file for contract MA-9868 / sale PD-X-1033 [other_primary]
- Locator
- https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/24.html ; /groups/26.html ; MARAD contract MA-9868 (per USCG-quoted letter)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads not retrieved (research-room or reproduction order required; no spend authorized): Navy deck logs 1946-1966 (RG 24) would settle the post-1949 deployment record now resting on secondary compilations; USCG cutter records (RG 26) cover 1966-1978; Bureau of Ships/Western Pipe & Steel contract and outfitting specifications could resolve the installed-materials question; the MARAD disposal file for contract MA-9868 may carry hazmat conditions of the 1980-82 scrapping.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-20
- Study period
- 1946-1982 records
- Limitations
- Record-group mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for this hull is unknown until surveyed in person. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-burton-island-ag88-08