Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
-
[1]DANFS, Caravan (AM-157) (builder, dates, service narrative, MSF-157 reclassification; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: Caravan (AM-157) was launched 27 October 1942 by Willamette Iron and Steel Corp., Portland, Oreg., and commissioned 21 January 1944, Lieutenant C. E. Walden, USNR, in command. She stood out of San Francisco 25 March 1944 bound for Pearl Harbor, Majuro, and Eniwetok, arriving Eniwetok 25 April to operate on patrol, lifeguard for aviators downed in carrier strikes, and convoy escort; escort duties took her throughout the Marianas, based at Guam from September; riding out a severe typhoon en route she sailed to Ulithi in October to begin operations in the Palaus as well as the Marianas. Fleet support ended May 1945 when she reported at Portland, Oreg., for overhaul; in July she arrived at Cold Bay, Alaska, to train a Russian crew, and on 16 August 1945 she was decommissioned and transferred to the Soviet Union under lend-lease; reclassified MSF-157 on 7 February 1955. Spec block: dp. 630; 184'6" x 33' x 10'; 15 k.; cpl. 104; 1 x 3"; cl. Admirable.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1942-1945; 1955
- Population
- Willamette Iron and Steel construction trades 1942-43; wartime crew (design complement 104); Soviet crew trainees at Cold Bay 1945
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The entry's bracketed transcriber's note is superseded by the NHC Project Hula monograph (ev-02): 'T-597' was actually ex-USS YMS-272, and the 'scrapped in 1956' figure is superseded by Russell's 1960. DANFS's 16 August transfer date conflicts by one day with Russell's appendix table, which carries this hull in the 17 August group - both dates are carried. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-caravan-am157-01
-
[2]Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan (Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 1997), pp. 39-40, ISBN 0-945274-35-1 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Russell, Project Hula (NHC 1997), transfer table pp. 39-40 (Caravan (AM 157) / T-337 / ditto under 17 Aug. / ditto under 1960-scrapped; YMS 272 / T-597 row); pp. 24, 27 (simultaneous decommission/transfer/commissioning process)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Navy-published monograph built on U.S. and Russian archival records (NAVSHIPS 250-012 Ships Data 1949; Berezhnoi's Soviet lend-lease reference): the Project Hula transfer table lists Caravan (AM 157) -> T-337, transfer date carried by ditto in the 17 Aug. [1945] group (Bond (AM 152) prints the explicit date), disposition 1960-scrapped. Russell documents that Project Hula ships were decommissioned from U.S. service, transferred, and commissioned into the Soviet Navy simultaneously at Cold Bay; T-337 departed for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and served in the Soviet Far East. The same table row set shows YMS 272 -> T-597, directly disproving the DANFS transcriber's-note attribution of T-597 to this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1945-1960; monograph 1997
- Population
- Soviet crew of T-337 (1945-1960)
- Limitations
- Secondary scholarly monograph (Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 1997) - authoritative for the transfer record but not a contemporaneous ship document. Contains no materials or asbestos information. The 17 August table-group date conflicts by one day with DANFS's 16 August decommission/transfer - unresolved; both are carried. Corrects the DANFS bracketed note (T-597 / scrapped 1956) rather than contradicting the underlying U.S. service record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-caravan-am157-02
-
[3]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, Caravan (MSF 157) ex-AM-157 ex-AMc-134 (photo/data archive page) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource AM-157 archive page, ship history block + specifications block + commanding officers table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource archive record for this hull: originally planned as coastal minesweeper AMc-134; reclassified AM-157 on 21 February 1942; laid down 16 May 1942 by Willamette Iron and Steel Corp., Portland, OR; launched 27 October 1942; commissioned 21 January 1944; decommissioned 16 August 1945 at Cold Bay, AK, transferred to the Soviet Union and reclassified T-337; 'assigned to the Pacific Fleet 3 September 1945'; reclassified by the U.S. Navy as fleet minesweeper (steel hull) MSF-157 on 7 February 1955; reclassified BRN-33 on 3 December 1956; scrapped 17 January 1960; struck from the Navy Register 1 January 1983. Spec block lists two 1,710 shp ALCO 539 diesel engines on Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, twin shafts, displacement 650 t., draft 9'9", speed 14.8 kts., complement 104; armament one 3"/50 DP, two twin 40mm, one hedgehog projector, two depth-charge tracks. Commanding officer LT Cecil Edward Walden, USNR (21 Jan 1944-16 Aug 1945) - sole officer listed.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1942-1983 (compiled)
- Population
- Construction trades 1942-43; wartime crew
- Limitations
- Private photo/data archive, not an official source: the keel date, reclassification dates, and propulsion spec are consistent with DANFS/official records but rest here on a secondary compilation. Soviet-era details are only partially corroborated - Russell supports scrapped-in-1960 but not the BRN-33 designation, the 3 December 1956 reclassification date, the 'Pacific Fleet 3 September 1945' assignment line, or the 17 January 1960 scrapping date; the 1 January 1983 striking rests on NavSource alone (DANFS silent). navsource.org did not resolve from the research machine; content retrieved via the navsource.net mirror on 2026-09-22. Per-engine vs total horsepower differs across NavSource sister-hull pages (1,710 shp shown per engine here). No materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-caravan-am157-03
-
[4]Lineaweaver v. Plant Insulation Co., 31 Cal. App. 4th 1409, 37 Cal. Rptr. 2d 902 (1995) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion text, 31 Cal. App. 4th 1409 (Pabco fill-in use at Willamette, 1960s-70s); shipyards.json record 'willamette-iron-steel'
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Published California appellate opinion in an asbestos product-identification case records that 'Pabco was used only as fill-in at Willamette in the 1960s and 1970s' - litigation-documented asbestos insulation use at a 'Willamette' shipyard, but limited to a window two decades after this hull's 1942-44 construction and fitting-out. The Atlas shipyard dataset carries the Willamette Iron & Steel record at evidence tier 3 on the strength of this opinion while flagging the yard identification itself as disputed (the opinion names only 'Willamette Shipyard').
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1960s-1970s (documented use); 1995 (opinion)
- Population
- Willamette shipyard insulators (1960s-1970s)
- Limitations
- Yard-level context, not a hull finding: the opinion does not name AM-157, does not document the 1942-44 construction window, and adjudicates product identification rather than exposure aboard any vessel. The 'Willamette Shipyard' in the opinion is not further identified - linking it to Willamette Iron & Steel Corp. of Portland is the dataset's inference, marked disputed there. Included to record that the builder-yard asbestos record does NOT reach this hull's build period.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-caravan-am157-04
-
[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 1975/1979 insulation-removal policies covering the WWII-built fleet - program-level confirmation that Navy ship construction of Caravan's era incorporated asbestos insulation and that the material was managed as a known hazard aboard Navy vessels.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation, not hull-specific; establishes era context for WWII Navy construction, not materials aboard AM-157. Does not establish individual exposure, quantities, or present-day presence. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-caravan-am157-05
-
[6]Batch-1181 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS (live + mirrors), NHC Project Hula monograph, Naval Vessel Register, NavSource archive, MARAD ShipHistory, Atlas shipyards.json, general web index [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-caravan-am157-01 through sl-uss-caravan-am157-09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming USS Caravan under AM-157, AMc-134, MSF-157, T-337, or BRN-33 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener API sweep could not be completed on 2026-09-22 (authenticated 2,800/day quota exhausted on the shared key); web-index checks surfaced no vessel-related litigation - only the ship's appearance on law-firm marketing rosters of minesweepers (mesothelioma.com lists 'USS Caravan | AM-157 | Admirable | 1/21/1944 | To Soviet Union, 1945'; mesotheliomahelp.org carries a similar generic roster) - excluded sources.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 2026-09-22
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the hull was built 1942-44 at a commercial yard during the peak asbestos-shipbuilding era and spent its post-1945 life in Soviet service, where Western documentation does not reach. Does not establish that asbestos is or was not present; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. CourtListener sweep remains open - logged as a gap, not a clean negative.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-caravan-am157-06