Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
-
[1]Naval Vessel Register, ship detail page - CALIFORNIA (CGN 36), ex-DLGN 36 (Wayback capture; live NVR detail pages no longer serve this stricken hull) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NVR ship detail table (vessel status, milestone dates, physical characteristics, custodian)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official Naval Vessel Register record: guided missile cruiser (nuclear propulsion); builder Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.; award 06/13/1968; keel 01/23/1970; launch 09/22/1971; delivery 02/07/1974; commission 02/16/1974; decommission 07/09/1999; stricken 07/09/1999; status 'Disposed of by Recycling' effective 05/12/2000; custodian Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, WA; 596 ft overall (570 ft WL), 61 ft extreme beam, 33 ft max navigational draft; light displacement 10,643 tons, full 11,548 tons, deadweight 905; steel hull, aluminum superstructure; propulsion type steam turbine (nuclear), 2 propellers; accommodations 39 officers, 524 enlisted.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1968-2000
- Limitations
- NVR documents milestones, status, and characteristics only - no materials or asbestos content. Complement conflicts with secondary sources (navysite/Wikipedia '40 officers and 544 enlisted') - NVR carried, conflict in gaps. Disposal status 05/12/2000 vs. Green Book '2001' for RC disposal/ship recycle - discrepancy in gaps. Live NVR detail page no longer serves this hull; Wayback capture cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-california-cgn36-01
-
[2]U.S. Naval Nuclear Powered Ship Inactivation, Disposal, and Recycling ('Green Book'), 2019 edition (NAVSEA/DOE, hosted at energy.gov), Appendix D 'Completed Reactor Compartment Disposal and Ship Recycling Projects' [other_primary]
- Locator
- Appendix D table rows (Ex-California CGN 36 Plants #2, #1 - 2001/2001); Section 4 (cruiser package description)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Official Navy/DOE recycling-program record names this hull twice: 'CGN 36 Ex-California, Plant #2' and 'CGN 36 Ex-California, Plant #1' - reactor compartment disposal completed 2001, ship recycle completed 2001, in the Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard; cruiser reactor compartments are cut free and encased in a heavy steel (at least three-quarter-inch) containment structure for shipment to the Hanford disposal site. NVR records 'Disposed of by Recycling' status effective 05/12/2000 - the RC package disposal at Hanford plausibly trails the hull recycling (discrepancy in gaps).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1999-2001
- Population
- PSNS Ship-Submarine Recycling Program workforce 1999-2001
- Limitations
- Documents the disposal event and pathway only - the Appendix D entries carry no asbestos data. The companion asbestos statements (Appendix C and the pre-mid-1970s reactor-compartment insulation note) are program-level and are carried separately (ev-03).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-california-cgn36-02
-
[3]U.S. Naval Nuclear Powered Ship Inactivation, Disposal, and Recycling ('Green Book'), 2019 edition (NAVSEA/DOE), program text and Appendix C - asbestos identification and controlled removal during ship recycling; reactor-compartment asbestos statement [other_primary]
- Locator
- Green Book Section 5/Appendix C (C-3 'Shipboard Dismantlement'; C-4 'Asbestos Insulation Being Removed from Piping'); reactor-compartment disposal section (pre-mid-1970s asbestos note)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Official Navy/DOE program documentation of asbestos handling in the recycling program this hull went through: 'asbestos, PCBs, and metallic lead ... are present in significant quantities' in older ships; 'one of the first actions when a ship begins the recycling process is to identify and tag equipment and structure that contain these materials,' including 'shipboard sampling to identify insulating materials (both on piping systems and on ship's structure), paint, and other products that may contain asbestos'; 'asbestos insulation is removed by personnel specially trained in asbestos work under stringent work controls' with containments, HEPA vacuums, and wetting agents, packaged and 'shipped to an approved land fill'; some electrical cable 'contains asbestos and PCBs.' On reactor compartments: 'Reactor compartments constructed before the mid-1970s also contain asbestos in insulation on pipes and other components. This asbestos is fully contained within the reactor compartments' - covering this hull's 1970-74 plant by construction date, flagged as class-level inference.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1999-2001 (this hull's recycling); program text 2019
- Population
- PSNS SRP workforce; asbestos-trained removal personnel
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation describing the process applied to all recycled nuclear ships - it documents that asbestos was expected, sampled, tagged, and removed under controls during the recycling this hull underwent; it does not document what asbestos was actually found aboard ex-California specifically, and says nothing about in-service conditions. The pre-mid-1970s reactor-compartment statement covers this plant by construction date but is class-level, not a hull survey.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-california-cgn36-03
-
[4]USS Cowpens (CG-63) Command History 1994, NHHC command-operations archive (official ship-submitted command report) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Cowpens 1994 command history, battle-group composition listing
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official 1994 command history of USS Cowpens lists USS CALIFORNIA among the units of the Kitty Hawk battle group for the June 1994 Western Pacific deployment - corroborating the secondary-source service narrative that places this hull in that deployment.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1994
- Limitations
- Corroborates one deployment only; the document is Cowpens' own command history, not a California history - no materials, yard, or asbestos content. The full California service narrative rests on consistent secondary sources (navysite.de, Wikipedia, hullnumber.com) partially corroborated by NHHC photo records (NH 106513-KN, received from ship Feb 2000) and the NHHC Mississippi IV DANFS page documenting the six-cruiser READEX formation photo naming CGN-36 (26 Feb 1981).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-california-cgn36-04
-
[5]navysite.de service history for USS California (CGN-36) - secondary compilation corroborated at points by official records (NVR milestones; Cowpens 1994 command history; NHHC photos) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navysite.de/cg/cgn36.htm full service narrative; corroborating: Cowpens 1994 command history (ev-04); NHHC photo NH 106513-KN; NHHC Mississippi IV DANFS page (READEX formation photo, 26 Feb 1981)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Service narrative (secondary, internally consistent): Atlantic Fleet service out of Norfolk for ten years; first Mediterranean cruise July 1976 - Feb 1977; 1977 Silver Jubilee Fleet Review at Spithead; 1979-80 Iranian hostage-crisis deployment with Nimitz and Texas to the North Arabian Sea (12,000 miles in 18 days; five months on station; 80,000-mile nine-month deployment ending May 1980); 1981 Indian Ocean cruise ending in Panama Canal transit - first nuclear-powered surface ship to circumnavigate since the 1964 Sea Orbit task group; homeport NAS Alameda September 1983; Feb 1985 WestPac/Indian Ocean with Constellation battle group; spring 1986 Bering Sea (first cruiser to visit Adak since WWII); 1987 second circumnavigation; RIMPAC 88 anti-surface-warfare commander; Dec 1988 last USN Earnest Will convoy through the Strait of Hormuz; PACEX 89; April 1990 - January 1993 refueling complex overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (new D2G cores plus New Threat Upgrade); June 1994 Kitty Hawk battle group WestPac; 1995 PSNS maintenance availability; 1996 Carl Vinson battle group (Southern Watch/Desert Strike, air-warfare commander, MUC); Jan 1998 Eastern Pacific/Caribbean counter-drug (JIATF-East AWC); RIMPAC 98; deactivation ceremony 28 Aug 1998 at PSNS; deactivated 1 Oct 1998; decommissioned/stricken 9 Jul 1999 - last active U.S. nuclear-powered cruiser.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1974-1999
- Population
- Newport News construction trades 1970-74; crew 1974-99; PSNS yard workforce 1990-93, 1995, 1997, 1998-2001
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation - not an official source; carried for narrative completeness only and corroborated at specific points by NVR milestones, the official Cowpens 1994 command history, and NHHC photo records. Yard-period detail for the 1990-93 refueling and 1995/1997 availabilities is secondary-only. Nothing in this row bears on materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-california-cgn36-05
-
[6]Documented availabilities (secondary) + Atlas shipyard dataset (Newport News, Puget Sound NSY records) + construction-era insulation context [other_primary]
- Locator
- navysite.de/cg/cgn36.htm yard-period narrative; Atlas shipyard dataset yard records; Green Book program text (ev-03)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era inference, nuclear-hull framing: the twin D2G reactor plant establishes nothing about asbestos exposure. Any asbestos relevance is confined to secondary steam and auxiliary systems - auxiliary piping, valve gaskets and packing, fireproofing, deck coverings, electrical cable - aboard a hull built 1970-74 at Newport News, at the tail of the documented asbestos-insulation era, and disturbed at documented availabilities: the April 1990 - January 1993 refueling complex overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard; 1995 and 1997 PSNS maintenance availabilities (secondary sources); and final Ship-Submarine Recycling at PSNS 1999-2001.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1970-2001
- Population
- Newport News construction trades 1970-74; PSNS trades 1990-93, 1995, 1997, 1999-2001; crew 1974-99
- Limitations
- Class/era and yard-period inference only, limited to non-reactor systems - no ship-specific asbestos record exists for this hull (see negative finding ev-07); this row must not be read as an independent ship-specific finding. Yard-period detail rests on consistent secondary sources. Does not establish that asbestos products were or remain aboard; nuclear propulsion is not evidence either of asbestos presence or absence. A 1970-74 build postdates the heaviest insulation-era use.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-california-cgn36-06
-
[7]Batch-85 search ledger (this record): NVR via Wayback; DOE Green Book; NHHC records; CourtListener API (blocked); web-index litigation and disclosure sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-california-cgn36-01 through sl-uss-california-cgn36-07
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no hull ACM survey, insulation schedule, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or qualifying asbestos-litigation opinion was found for this hull in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). No dedicated DANFS entry exists (NavSource confirms the hull is not in DANFS). CourtListener API was throttled (HTTP 429) throughout the session - the litigation sweep was web-index only and the blocked API query is a recorded gap, not a clean negative.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2026-09-18
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the Navy's ship-recycling documentation does not publish hull-level ACM detail, and a throttled CourtListener API means the litigation sweep may be incomplete. Class-level asbestos claims in circulation (National Interest feature tracing to a plaintiffs' firm; navyshipexposure.com; law-firm profiles) are derivative/marketing content excluded per batch rules - their exclusion is recorded in the ledger, not treated as evidence. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-california-cgn36-07