Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
-
[1]research packet 1111-packet.md (2 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-butte-ae27-pkt-1111-packet-md
-
[2]NHHC/DANFS, 'Butte II (AE-27)', Raymond A. Mann, 21 November 2005 [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry text, statistics line, and update note
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS (NHHC) entry 'Butte II (AE-27)': second Navy ship of the name, honoring the city of Butte, Montana; laid down 21 July 1966 at Quincy, Mass., by General Dynamics Corp.; launched 9 August 1967, sponsored by Mrs. Ellen Hodges Proxmire; commissioned at Boston Naval Shipyard 14 December 1968, Capt. Wallace M. Riggs in command. Kilauea-class statistics: dp. 19,937 (f.); 564 ft; 81 ft beam; 31 ft draft; 21 kts; cpl. 402; 8 x 3-inch. Service narrative through 27 January 1982: fitting-out Boston NSY through October 1969; Norfolk homeport; Mediterranean deployments 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1979-80, 1980-81; Vietnam line periods February-May 1973 including two entries into Haiphong harbor (30 March-3 April, 12 April 1973) supporting post-cease-fire minesweeping; regular overhauls at Metro Machine Corp., Berkeley, Va. (11 February-October 1974) and Coastal Drydock Co. (12 July 1978-21 May 1979); homeport change to Naval Weapons Station Earle, N.J., 30 June 1979; Suez transit 16 February 1981 and Indian Ocean contingency-force support; MSC rearm-at-sea tests Narragansett Bay May-June 1981. Decommissioned 3 June 1996; struck the Navy list 24 May 2004; retained by NAVSEA as a logistic support asset. Entry author Raymond A. Mann, dated 21 November 2005; 'UPDATE for 1982 through 1996 scheduled at a future date' - DANFS narrative coverage ends January 1982.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1966-1996 narrative; entry published 2015
- Population
- Crew (period 1968-1982 narrative)
- Limitations
- Establishes identity, construction, and service chronology only through January 1982; the entry itself defers 1982-1996 coverage. Contains no asbestos, insulation-material, or hazardous-material statement - supports no asbestos claim on its own.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-butte-ae27-01
-
[3]U.S. Navy, Naval Vessel Register, 'BUTTE (AE 27)' ship detail page (NAVSEA-maintained official register). Live page removed following disposal; archived copy cited. [other_primary]
- Locator
- NVR ship detail table, all fields; page last updated 07/17/2006 (Wayback capture 2012-04-14)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Naval Vessel Register ship detail (archived copy; live page removed after disposal): UIC 05839, Class AE 26 ammunition ship, custodian US NAVY; award 03/30/1965; builder GENERAL DYN/QUINCY; keel 07/21/1966; launch 08/09/1967; delivery 11/29/1968; commission 12/14/1968; decommission 06/03/1996; stricken 05/24/2004; status 'Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise', date status changed 06/30/2006. Characteristics: 564 ft overall / 540 ft waterline; 81 ft beam; 30 ft max navigational draft / 28 ft draft limit; 10,524 tons light / 20,068 tons full displacement; 9,544 tons deadweight; steel hull and superstructure; one propeller; propulsion type 'Steam Turbines'; accommodations 28 officers, 388 enlisted. Page last updated 07/17/2006.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1965-2006
- Limitations
- Official register milestones and characteristics; the 06/30/2006 'date status changed' is the administrative disposal-status date, not necessarily the day the hulk went down (NAVSEA documents the torpedo sinking on 3 July 2006 - see ev-uss-butte-ae27-04). Contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-butte-ae27-02
-
[4]NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive, USNS Butte (T-AE-27) ex USS Butte (AE-27) page [other_primary]
- Locator
- Timeline, specifications, campaign table, awards block, photo captions (page verified live on navsource.net 2026-10-05; the .org domain is dead)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource Service Ship Photo Archive entry (live .net site): USS Butte (AE-27) laid down 21 July 1966 at General Dynamics Shipyard, Quincy MA; launched 9 August 1967; commissioned 14 December 1968 at Boston Naval Shipyard, CAPT Wallace M. Riggs; Vietnam Ceasefire Campaign periods 6 and 8-14 February 1973, 22 February-3 March 1973, 28 March 1973; decommissioned 3 June 1996 and placed in service with MSC as USNS Butte (T-AE-27); placed out of service and struck 24 May 2004; final disposition 'disposed of as a target in support of fleet training exercises, 30 June 2006'. Specifications: one General Electric turbine, three Foster-Wheeler 600psi boilers, single six-blade fixed propeller 22,000 shp; MSC complement 125-133 civilian mariners plus naval detachment 30; four twin 3"/50 mounts as USS; awards include 2 Navy MUC, 5 Battle E, Navy Expeditionary Medal (Iran/Indian Ocean), AFEM (Lebanon, Op. Restore Hope/Somalia), VSM with 1 campaign star, 4 SECNAV Letters of Commendation. Photographic record includes 1984 underway replenishment of USS Iowa (BB-61) and September 2004 ISMF Philadelphia layup images, and photos of the hulk breaking/sinking 30 June 2006.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1966-2006
- Population
- Crew; MSC civilian mariners
- Limitations
- Volunteer-maintained archival compilation hosting official Navy photography and reproduced register data - treated as a transcription/photo archive, not a government publication; milestone dates agree with DANFS and archived NVR. Campaign dates are NavSource's tabulation. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-butte-ae27-03
-
[5]NAVSEA, 'Final SSN-751 USS San Juan (SSN-751) Naval Historical Evaluation' (Team Ships SEA21 Inactive Ships, 2023); shipscribe.com KILAUEA (AE 26) class page for weapons-mix and location detail [other_primary]
- Locator
- San Juan deployment-summary section (accessed via Firecrawl; navsea.navy.mil blocks direct fetch with HTTP 403); shipscribe https://www.shipscribe.com/usnaux2/AE/AE26.html ship notes
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NAVSEA official Naval Historical Evaluation of USS San Juan (SSN-751) states: 'On 3 July 2006, SAN JUAN fired the Mark 48 torpedo that deliberately sank the USNS Butte in a target exercise.' Shipscribe's class compilation (Roberts, from SCB/NVR records) describes the sinking as 30 June 2006 off the central U.S. east coast by Harpoon missiles, a Mark 48 torpedo from USS San Juan, and EOD explosives - consistent with the NVR disposal-status date of 30 June 2006 and NavSource photographs of the hulk sinking that day.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 2006
- Limitations
- Disposal facts only: official documents disagree on exact date (NVR status change 30 June; NAVSEA torpedo event 3 July) and no official sink-site coordinates were located. Establishes the hull is on the bottom; says nothing about materials remaining aboard at sinking.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-butte-ae27-04
-
[6]U.S. General Accounting Office, 'Navy's Efforts to Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure', HRD-80-2, 18 October 1979 [gao]
- Locator
- Letter body and Enclosures I-II (Navy responses on shipboard asbestos use and removal policy). gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to direct fetch; full text obtained via Firecrawl render of the live PDF.
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- GAO HRD-80-2 (18 October 1979), reviewing Navy asbestos policy, records the Navy's own statements: thermal insulation for 'machinery, equipment and piping systems has been the major application of asbestos' aboard Navy ships; thermal-insulation product specifications were not revised to asbestos-free materials until 1973 and asbestos already purchased/installed in ships under construction meant 'ships were delivered with asbestos insulation as late as May 1978'; and 'all ships presently in service contain some quantity of asbestos' - enumerated applications including deck tile, piping-system gaskets and packing, galley-range electric cabling, equipment brakes and clutches, and electronic resistors - 'nearly impossible to build a Navy ship free of the mineral.' Navy policy (October 1975, modified January 1979) was to remove asbestos insulation only when damaged or when removal was required for repairs, with selective replacement in high-maintenance areas, and the Navy declined a one-time ~$2 billion fleetwide removal program. This hull was delivered 29 November 1968 - within the pre-1973 specification era described.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1973-1979 policy window; report October 1979
- Population
- Navy crews fleetwide; shipyard asbestos workers (Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards fieldwork)
- Limitations
- Program-level statements about the fleet, not this hull: the GAO ship list (Attachment #1) covered ships delivered since 1973 or under construction, which excludes this 1968-delivery hull by its own cutoff - the Navy framing implies pre-1973 ships were built under asbestos-era specifications, but no document located names AE-27. Does not establish quantity, location, condition, individual exposure, or present-day presence aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-butte-ae27-05
-
[7]Oliver v. Campbell McCormick, Inc., No. CCB-16-1057 (D. Md. July 18, 2016) (memorandum; govinfo USCOURTS-mdd-1_16-cv-01057, Document 105) [court_record]
- Locator
- Memorandum, Background section (Complaint para. 3 allegations), pp. 1-2
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Oliver v. Campbell McCormick, Inc., Civ. No. CCB-16-1057 (D. Md., memorandum filed 18 July 2016): the underlying complaints alleged that plaintiff Wayne Oliver 'worked as a pipefitter's and drafting apprentice at Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts from 1967 to 1970' and that exposure to defendants' asbestos-containing materials caused his 2015 mesothelioma. The memorandum addresses severance, remand, and stay motions only - a procedural ruling reciting allegations. The 1967-1970 apprenticeship window straddles this hull's construction at the same Quincy yard (keel July 1966 through delivery November 1968).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1967-1970 (alleged exposure); litigation 2015-2016
- Population
- Fore River Shipyard trades (1967-1970)
- Limitations
- Pleading-stage allegations about the builder's yard, not this hull: the opinion recites the complaint's claims without finding asbestos exposure occurred; the ship is never named. Yard-level occupational-disease litigation context for the construction site and period only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-butte-ae27-06
-
[8]SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego / Battelle / MEC for PEO Ships (PMS 333), 'Risk Assessment of the Potential Release of PCBs and Other Contaminants from Sunken Navy Ships in the Deep Ocean: ex-AGERHOLM Case Study', March 2006 (NAVSEA-hosted); Navy-EPA Agreement of 19 August 1996 as described therein; EPA publication of the MPRSA SINKEX permit at 40 C.F.R. 229.2 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Report sections 1.1-1.2, 2.1 (regulatory history), 2.3.1.1 (chemicals of potential concern); EPA agreement PDF https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-02/documents/3401_1164-c_agreement_between_usepa_sinkex.pdf (scanned; terms as summarized in the NAVSEA report)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- The 2006 sinking occurred under the Navy SINKEX program's EPA regulatory regime: sinking exercises operate under the MPRSA general permit 'Transport of Target Vessels' (40 C.F.R. 229.2); after PCBs were discovered aboard Navy ships in 1989 the Navy voluntarily suspended SINKEXs until the 19 August 1996 Navy-EPA agreement governing vessels containing PCB-impregnated materials; since 1990 'SINKEX ships have been more extensively cleaned, particularly for PCBs', with roughly ten vessels sunk per year since the agreement. The March 2006 NAVSEA/SPAWAR SINKEX Project Final Report (ex-Agerholm case study) - published three months before this hull's sinking - identifies PCBs as the primary contaminant of concern and metals and fuel-oil PAHs as secondary concerns. The program documents contain no asbestos scope.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1989-2006
- Population
- SINKEX target-vessel preparation crews (program level)
- Limitations
- Program-level environmental context for the disposal only. Asbestos is not among the contaminants of potential concern addressed; the record located contains no ship-specific pre-sinking hazmat survey or removal certification for this hull. SINKEX cleanup focused on PCBs and fuel residues - what, if any, asbestos went down with the ship is undocumented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-butte-ae27-07
-
[9]NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Report HETA-81-364-1080, 'General Dynamics Shipyard; Quincy, Massachusetts' (McManus, Quinn, Waskie, Wegman; March 1982), doi:10.26616/NIOSHHETA813641080 [other_primary]
- Locator
- CDC Stacks record page, abstract/description
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation HETA-81-364-1080 (report dated March 1982; walk-through 6 July 1981) investigated worker complaints of respiratory and systemic symptoms 'possibly associated with welding on epoxy paint' at the General Dynamics Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts - the yard that built this hull. Approximately 2,400 workers were employed; the report concerned hot welding repair work on 'old epoxy coated ships' and could not reach a toxicity determination for want of information. No asbestos monitoring or findings appear in the report description.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1981-1982
- Population
- General Dynamics Quincy shipyard workers (~2,400 employed, 1981)
- Limitations
- Yard-level occupational-health documentation from 13 years after this hull's construction, concerning welding/epoxy fumes - not an asbestos survey and not about this vessel. Confirms only that occupational-exposure concerns at the builder were federally investigated.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-butte-ae27-08
-
[10]U.S. National Archives, catalog.archives.gov, RG 24 deck-log file units for 'Butte (AE-27)' and NAID 6928045 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Catalog search 'Butte (AE-27)' file units (e.g., June 1970 NAID 40445159; December 1968 NAID 40444538); item record https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6928045
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds digitized deck logs for Butte (AE-27) in Record Group 24 (Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations): monthly file units digitized beginning December 1968 (e.g., NAID 40444538, December 1968; NAID 40445159, June 1970; container 602), plus still-picture item NAID 6928045 (19-NN-AE-27-Butte-179381, Box 1535 Folder 20). Deck logs would record underway periods, casualties such as the reported 1974 switchboard fire, and yard availabilities, but were not reviewed page-by-page this session.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1968-1970s (digitized range observed)
- Limitations
- Archive exists and is digitized; contents not reviewed for asbestos, casualty, or yard-period entries. Deck logs do not normally name insulation materials - their value is verifying dates, availabilities, and any recorded casualty. No asbestos claim is drawn from this row.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-butte-ae27-09
-
[11]Batch-494 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC; archived NVR; NavSource; NARA catalog (RG 24 deck logs, NAID 6928045); GAO HRD-80-2; NIOSH HETA-81-364-1080; Oliver v. Campbell McCormick (D. Md.); NAVSEA SINKEX report and San Juan evaluation; EPA-Navy SINKEX agreement; shipscribe class compilation; targeted web searches for litigation and hazmat records [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-butte-ae27-01 through sl-uss-butte-ae27-14
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming AE-27 / USS Butte / USNS Butte was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener was unreachable this session - the authenticated fleet-wide request budget was spent throughout the window and the helper returned pacing stand-down messages on every attempt; logged as blocked, not as a negative result.
- 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 - the ship's pre-1973 construction makes era-standard asbestos materials a reasonable inference. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. The CourtListener gap means litigation coverage is incomplete - a name-collision-rich name ('Butte', city and county) makes that check nontrivial and it remains open.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-butte-ae27-10