Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
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[1]research packet do-packet.md (3 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS Cahokia
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-cahokia-at61-pkt-do-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, 'Cahokia I (AT-61)' entry, Naval History and Heritage Command (live NHHC URL returns 404 - verbatim text retrieved via Internet Archive Wayback capture 20210331030352) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS 'Cahokia I (AT-61)' entry, full text + spec block (Wayback capture 20210331030352)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NHHC records verbatim: '(AT-61: dp. 510; l. 141'; b. 27'7"; dr. 10'7") Cahokia - An Indian tribe belonging to the Illinois Confederacy. I. The first Cahokia (AT-61) was built in 1920 by Providence Engineering Corp., City Island, N.Y.; transferred to the Navy from the Coast Guard 14 May 1936; and commissioned 6 November 1936, Chief Boatswain W. C. Kasmire in command. She was reclassified YT-135, 1 January 1938. Assigned to duty in the 12th Naval District, Cahokia operated as a harbor tug at Mare Island Navy Yard. She was reclassified YTB-135, 13 April 1944 and placed in service. She was transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal 8 August 1947.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1920-1947
- Limitations
- Primary Navy historical entry - authoritative for identity, designation chain, duty station, and disposal. Contains no asbestos or materials information; supports no asbestos claim. Live NHHC page returned 404 on 2026-09-26 (standing NHHC link rot, cf. BATCH-01); the Wayback capture is the verbatim official text.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cahokia-at61-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive - Cahokia (YTB-135), ex USS Cahokia (YT-135) (1938-1944), USS Cahokia (AT-61) (1936-1938), USCGC Cahokia (1921-1936), file 09/47/47061 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 09/47/47061.htm - service history block, specifications block, awards ribbon bar, commanding-officer table, photo-caption descriptions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline (DANFS-derived plus additions): laid down as Bayside by Providence Engineering Corp., City Island, N.Y. under U.S. Shipping Board contract 1352; completed and delivered to USSB in 1920; acquired by the U.S. Coast Guard 21 October 1921; commissioned USCGC Cahokia June 1933 (LCDR Norman H. Leslie USCG in command); transferred to the Navy 14 May 1936; commissioned USS Cahokia (AT-61) 6 November 1936 (Chief Boatswain W. C. Kasmire in command); reclassified district harbor tug YT-135 1 January 1938; decommissioned 13 April 1944; reclassified district harbor tug, large, YTB-135 and placed in service the same day; transferred to the Maritime Commission 8 August 1947 for sale to Crowley Tug & Launch Co., San Francisco; sold for scrapping 1953. Spec block: 510 t, 141', 27'7", 10'7" draft; one oil-fired steam engine, single propeller, 950 shp. Awards: American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal; call sign NCHD. CO table includes LTjg Ernest Edwin Evans 14 June 1938 - 18 July 1940.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1918-1953
- Limitations
- Specialist volunteer archive - detailed but non-official; consistent with DANFS. Propulsion figure (950 shp) conflicts with the shipscribe class table (800 HP) - logged in gaps. NavSource captions apply the final designation loosely (a June 1941 photo is captioned 'YTB-135', anachronistic by three years). Contains no asbestos information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cahokia-at61-02
-
[4]Shipscribe U.S. Navy auxiliary ships data sheets, 'USS Cahokia (AT-61) Class' page (Stephen S. Roberts compilation from Navy registers, BuShips/SCB design records, and MARAD files) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipscribe AT-61 class page - class characteristics block, construction table (AT-61 row), disposition table (AT-61 row), class notes, ship notes (EFC 1352)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Class compilation naming this hull: design EFC 1035 (based on the mercantile tug W. B. Keene, Staten Island SB 1913); 526 t light / 1,035 t full load; 150.0' oa / 141.3' pp x 27.5' molded x 13.75'; complement 33 (USCG); 11 kts; 800 HP, 1 screw triple-expansion; no original armament. AT-61 construction row: keel 21 Dec 1918, launched 1919, commissioned 6 Nov 1936. Disposition row: decommissioned 2 Oct 1946, stricken 30 Dec 1946, Maritime Administration sale 28 Jul 1947, Maritime Commission disposal 8 Aug 1947. Ship note (EFC 1352): ex-Bayside (ID-4417, completed ca. Feb 1920); USSB to USCG 31 (21?) Oct 1921, renamed Cahokia; USCG to USN 14 May 1936; to YT-135 1 Jan 1938 (placed in service); to YTB-135 (ship note dates the change 15 May 1944); sold by the Maritime Commission to Crowley Launch & Tugboat Co., San Francisco; mercantile Cahokia 1947, deleted 1953. Class note: hull built by Kyle & Purdy, City Island, as subcontractor for Providence Engineering, which provided the engines; the two West Coast ex-Coast Guard tugs (Cahokia, Tamaroa) went to the Navy in 1936; although designated ocean tugs (AT) 23 Jun 1936 they were not fitted for extended sea service and became harbor tugs (YT) effective 1 Jan 1938.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1918-1953
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary transcription of official Navy register, design, and MARAD records - not the registers themselves; figures used where consistent with NHHC/NavSource. Its ship note dates YTB-135 to 15 May 1944 vs DANFS/NavSource 13 April 1944; USCG transfer day given as '31 (21?) Oct 21'; completion 'ca. Feb 20' vs McKellar 'Sep 1920' - all discrepancies logged in gaps. Contains no asbestos information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cahokia-at61-03
-
[5]McKellar merchant-vessel registry, 'EFC Ocean-Going Tugs' table (shipscribe hosting), EFC hull 1352 row; corroborated by the Providence Engineering yard table at shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipscribe.com/mckellar/OceanTugs.html EFC 1352 row; shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net/us-emer-large/providence/ table row for 1352 / O.N. 220570
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- EFC hull 1352 BAYSIDE: ordered 14 Mar 1918; completed Sep 1920 as U.S. Official No. 220570; to USCG 21 Oct 1921 under Executive Order 3564 as CAHOKIA; USS CAHOKIA (AT-61) 1936; YT-135 1938; mercantile CAHOKIA 1947; broken up 1953. The Providence Engineering yard list adds: type 'icebreaking tugboat', 426 gross tons.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1918-1953
- Limitations
- Standard scholarly registries of Shipping Board/EFC construction (McKellar) and builder output (shipbuildinghistory, Tim Colton data) - secondary compilations over registry records, not the registers themselves. shipbuildinghistory's 'to USN 1921' shorthand conflates the custody chain - the hull went to the Coast Guard in 1921 and to the Navy in 1936. Contains no asbestos information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cahokia-at61-04
-
[6]U.S. National Archives RG 80-G photo captions for USS Cahokia (photos 80-G-13182 and 80-G-13180), transmitted verbatim by the shipscribe AT-61 class photo page and NavSource 47061; plus Mare Island Navy Yard photo 6940-45 [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipscribe.com/usnaux/AT/AT061-p.html photo captions; navsource.net 09/47/47061 image descriptions (80-G-13182, 80-G-13180; Mare Island Navy Yard photo 6940-45, 2 Nov 1945)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA-captioned ship-specific casualty and repair event: USS Cahokia (YT-135) aground inside the lagoon at Naval Air Station, Alameda, Calif., in February 1942; the Commander, 12th Naval District, reported the grounding to Washington on 21 February 1942 and reported on 2 June 1942 that she was to be raised approximately 4 June 1942 and delivered to the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard for an overhaul estimated to last about six weeks. A separate Mare Island Navy Yard photo (6940-45) shows Cahokia (YTB-135) at Mare Island on 2 November 1945, and a 4 June 1941 Mare Island photo of the YSD-29 launching shows the tug alongside YD-33.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1942-1945
- Population
- 12th Naval District salvage crews; Hunters Point Naval Shipyard overhaul workforce (June-July 1942)
- Limitations
- Caption wording transmitted identically by two secondary archives (shipscribe and NavSource), each citing the NARA photo numbers; the NARA catalog entries were not directly retrieved (catalog.archives.gov v1 API defunct, v2 requires a key). Documents a ship-specific salvage-and-overhaul event at Hunters Point NSY circa June 1942 - carried as the hull's documented repair/disturbance pathway; the asbestos scope of that overhaul work is undocumented and no asbestos content is asserted. The 'YTB-135' label on the June 1941 image is anachronistic (designation then was YT-135).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cahokia-at61-05
-
[7]Consolidated era/design inference - documented propulsion plant and construction era (DANFS spec block; shipscribe AT-61 class data: 1 screw triple expansion, ~800 HP; NavSource spec block: one oil-fired steam engine, 950 shp) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipscribe AT-61 class page characteristics block (machinery row); NavSource 47061 specifications block; DANFS spec block
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: this hull was an oil-fired, single-screw, triple-expansion steam tug built 1918-20 to an Emergency Fleet Corporation design - the machinery configuration for which boiler casing and breeching insulation, steam-line lagging, exhaust-pipe covering, valve and flange gaskets, machinery packing, and accommodation/insulation materials of the period were commonly asbestos-containing. Typical applications for the type: boiler and drum insulation; steam-pipe lagging between boiler and engine; valve and flange gaskets; machinery packing; pipe and machinery insulation in the engine/boiler spaces. The documented June 1942 Hunters Point overhaul and the 1947-53 Crowley merchant period are the hull's documented disturbance contexts; breaking in 1953 is the terminal disturbance event.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1918-1953
- Population
- Providence Engineering / Kyle & Purdy construction trades (1918-20); USCG crew (complement ~33) 1921-36; Navy crew and Mare Island Navy Yard shop workers 1936-46; Hunters Point NSY overhaul workforce (1942); Crowley merchant crew 1947-53; 1953 breaking-yard workers
- Limitations
- Inference from the documented machinery plant and construction/service era - NOT a hull record. No survey, specification, material schedule, or abatement record naming AT-61/YT-135/YTB-135 was located; establishes no asbestos content, quantity, location, individual exposure, or causation. This hull predates the WWII construction peak covered by the era scholarship rows; steam-era marine insulation practice extended well before 1941, but no design-1035 material schedule was located.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cahokia-at61-06
-
[8]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
- Abstract and article, AJIM 11(3):359-373
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical study documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during World War II - the era covering this hull's Navy service at Mare Island Navy Yard and its documented 1942 Hunters Point overhaul, though the hull itself was built in 1918-20, before the wartime peak the study describes.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel or class, postdates its construction era, and does not establish that asbestos was aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cahokia-at61-07
-
[9]Fleischer, W.E., Viles, F.J. Jr., Gade, R.L., and Drinker, P., 'A health survey of pipe covering operations in constructing naval vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol 28(1):9-16 (Jan 1946), PMID 21016030 [other_primary]
- Locator
- PubMed record PMID 21016030; article pp. 9-16 (pipe covering material section)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- The U.S. Maritime Commission-commissioned industrial-hygiene survey of WWII pipe-covering operations at two Navy yards and two Navy contract yards documented that 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels is amosite' - i.e., asbestos insulation was standard material in wartime naval-vessel construction and yard work of the period covering this hull's WWII service and overhaul years.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- survey ~1944-45; published 1946
- Population
- WWII pipe coverers and insulators at Navy and contract yards (era context)
- Limitations
- Era-level documentation of asbestos use in naval construction generally; does not name this vessel, class, or either yard she is documented at (whether Mare Island or Hunters Point work on this hull involved the surveyed products is unverified) and establishes nothing about this hull's materials, condition, or any individual exposure. (The study's exculpatory 'not a dangerous occupation' conclusion has since been heavily criticized.)
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cahokia-at61-08
-
[10]Batch-2803 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS via Wayback; NavSource 09/47/47061; shipscribe AT-61 class + photo pages; McKellar EFC tug registry; shipbuildinghistory Providence yard list; USCG Historian's Office Historic Ships list; CourtListener API v4 (opinion + RECAP docket); MARAD ShipHistory; NARA catalog; NVR [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-cahokia-at61-01 through sl-uss-cahokia-at61-11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, material specification, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, court finding, or docketed asbestos case naming USS Cahokia / AT-61 / YT-135 / YTB-135 / ex-Bayside / USSB 1352 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener exact-phrase 'USS Cahokia' opinion search returned count 0 (clean HTTP 200); the 540 'Cahokia' opinion hits and 641 RECAP docket hits are name collisions with the Illinois village, its school district, police department, and companies (Cahokia Marine Service, Cahokia Sportservice) - none names a vessel. The 'Cahokia AND asbestos' hits are the same collisions: Hefner v. Owens-Corning (Ill. App. 1997, opinion 7027790) was read directly - 'Cahokia' appears only as the cited precedent Cahokia Sportservice v. Illinois Liquor Control Comm'n. No museum hull exists - she was scrapped in 1953 - so no present-day hull survey is possible.
- 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 1920 steam tug serving through the peak-asbestos era is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials. Does not establish presence or absence; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cahokia-at61-09
-
[11]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office 'Cutters, Craft & U.S. Coast Guard Manned Army & Navy Vessels' list - CAHOKIA (1921) entry (Historian's Office maintains a vessel file; content not digitized); NARA Guide to Federal Records: RG 24 (Navy deck logs), RG 26 (CG cutter muster rolls/logbooks), RG 32 (USSB/EFC records), RG 80-G (Navy photos), RG 178 (Maritime Commission), RG 181 (naval districts and shore establishments) [other_primary]
- Locator
- history.uscg.mil Historic Ships list (CAHOKIA 1921); archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/024.html; /026.html; /032.html; /178.html; /181.html
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - require research-room work or reproduction order; no spend authorized): USCG Historian's Office cutter file for CAHOKIA (1921) - the official list confirms the office maintains a file on the vessel, covering the undocumented 1921-33 pre-commissioning period; NARA RG 24 Navy deck logs for AT-61/YT-135/YTB-135 (1936-46); RG 26 Coast Guard cutter muster rolls and logbooks (1921-36, incl. the bound-roll series 1833-1932); RG 32 USSB/EFC construction records for Design 1035 hull 1352 - the original contract specification is the strongest lead for as-built insulation materials; RG 181 Twelfth Naval District / Mare Island Navy Yard and Hunters Point Naval Shipyard records - the June 1942 salvage/overhaul work orders are the strongest hull-specific in-service materials lead; RG 178 Maritime Commission 1947 disposal file for the Crowley sale. RG 80-G photos 80-G-13180/80-G-13182 are cataloged but not directly retrieved (catalog API unavailable).
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1918-1953 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-cahokia-at61-10