Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
-
[1]research packet li-packet.md (3 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-coates-de685-pkt-li-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Coates (DE-685) (namesake, builder, dates, service narrative, striking and sinking; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + namesake + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: namesake Carpenter's Mate 1st Class Charles Coates, killed aboard Juneau 13 November 1942; launched 12 December 1943 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass., sponsored by Mrs. A. M. Bledsoe; commissioned 24 January 1944; school ship for student officers and nucleus crews at Miami 8 April 1944 - 15 September 1945; inactivation at Charleston; out of commission in reserve 16 April 1946 at Green Cove Springs; recommissioned 7 February 1951, homeport Norfolk; Fleet Sonar School training ship at Key West 1952; NATO Operation Mainbrace Aug-Oct 1952; midshipman cruise to Brazil 1953; NATO exercises to Scotland and France Jul-Sep 1954; school ship at Key West early 1957; assigned 21 November 1957 to the 3d Naval District as a Naval Reserve Training vessel operating from New York City; base changed to New Haven 19 September 1960; training cruises in Long Island Sound and to the West Indies and east coast through 1963 (narrative ends with the volume's era); struck from the Navy list 30 January 1970 and sunk as a target 19 September 1971 (bracketed later note). Specifications block: 1,460 tons; 306 ft; 37 ft beam; 9 ft 8 in draft; 24 kt; complement 186; 2 x 5-inch, 3 x 21-inch torpedo tubes, 8 depth-charge projectors, hedgehog, 2 depth-charge tracks; class Rudderow.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1971
- Population
- Bethlehem Steel Quincy (Fore River) construction trades 1943-44; wartime and reserve-era crew (design complement 186); NRT trainees and reserve crews 1957-1969
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. This entry contains two printing errors: the specification block and first paragraph are mis-numbered 'DE-686' (the hull is DE-685; DE-686 was Eugene E. Elmore), and the namesake's cruiser is mis-printed 'Juneau (CL-62)' (correct: CL-52) - both documented, not adopted. The narrative ends in 1963 (DANFS Volume II publication era); post-1963 status changes come from secondary sources only. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-coates-de685-01
-
[3]Hammond v. Lenfest, 398 F.2d 705 (2d Cir. 1968) (Kaufman, J., lead opinion; Friendly, J., dissenting) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion caption and factual recital; CourtListener clusters 8892828 and 281160
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Published federal appellate opinion naming this hull: the caption reads 'Charles A. HAMMOND, SN USNR R ... v. H. F. LENFEST, USN, Commanding Officer, USS Coates; Oscar Parker, Captain USN, Commanding Officer U.S. Naval Station, Brooklyn, New York; R. T. Whitaker, Rear Admiral USN, Commandant, Third Naval District.' A Naval Reserve seaman who enlisted 30 September 1963 petitioned for habeas corpus to obtain judicial review of the military's denial of his conscientious-objector discharge; the Second Circuit held review of the administrative decision available via habeas. The vessel appears because the petitioner was a reservist under the command of Coates's commanding officer - corroborating the hull's NRT-era operation under the Third Naval District out of the New York Naval Shipyard/Brooklyn complex in 1968.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1963-1968 (facts); 1968 (opinion)
- Population
- Naval Reserve seaman aboard USS Coates as NRT platform, 1963-1968
- Limitations
- NOT asbestos litigation - a habeas/military-administrative-law case containing no exposure allegation, no product identification, and no findings about materials aboard. The hull's role is party-caption context (respondent's command); it establishes only that the ship operated as a Third Naval District Naval Reserve Training platform with an assigned commanding officer in 1968.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-coates-de685-02
-
[4]NARA WWII War Diaries: 'USS COATES - War Diary, 12/1-31/44' (National Archives Identifier 139785038; Micro Serial 100211; Office of Naval Records and Library; NARA College Park - Textual Reference; digitized via DPLA/Wikimedia Commons) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAID 139785038 (December 1944 diary); NARA RG 38 War Diaries series
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- This hull's WWII war diaries survive in NARA's War Diary series (RG 38): the December 1944 diary (NAID 139785038) is digitized; monthly diaries for the Miami school-ship period and the ship's official war history, as submitted at war's end, are the primary source for day-by-day operations, underway hours, and any documented material or repair events not abstracted into DANFS.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- Wartime crew (design complement 186)
- Limitations
- Archival lead, not a surveyed finding: the diary text has not been reviewed for asbestos-relevant content (repairs, lagging renewal, refits); presence of the record does not itself evidence asbestos. NARA RG19 General Information Books (per-vessel material specifications) are the deeper lead for hull-level material specs; not retrieved.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-coates-de685-03
-
[5]DANFS specifications block (Rudderow class; TEV steam turbo-electric; 24 kt) + class design data (General Electric turbo-electric drive, twin screws, 12,000 hp) + Atlas shipyard dataset, Fore River Shipyard record (tier-3 asbestos-era yard) + NARA RG19 General Information Books archival lead [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block; Rudderow-class design data; shipyards.json records 'fore-river-shipyard' and 'bethlehem-shipbuilding'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Rudderow-class TEV destroyer escort built November-December 1943 with a steam-driven General Electric turbo-electric plant would have carried era-standard asbestos applications - boiler and steam-line insulation, machinery and turbine lagging, gaskets, packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings; builder Bethlehem Steel's Quincy (Fore River) yard is documented as a tier-3 asbestos-era yard in the Atlas dataset (litigation-documented asbestos work at the yard, later period); NARA RG19 'General Information Books' holding per-vessel material specifications are an archival lead for hull-level specs.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1970
- Population
- Bethlehem Steel Quincy construction trades 1943-44; crew 1944-46, 1951-1970; NRT reserve crews and trainees 1957-1969
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding; no ship-specific survey, abatement, or litigation row supports 'documented aboard this hull' wording. The yard-level evidence post-dates this hull's construction window. Does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-coates-de685-04
-
[6]Fleischer, W.E., Viles, F.J. Jr., Gade, R.L., Drinker, P., 'A Health Survey of Pipe Covering Operations in Constructing Naval Vessels,' Journal of Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology 28(1):9-16 (January 1946) - U.S. Public Health Service survey conducted for the Navy [other_primary]
- Locator
- J. Ind. Hyg. Toxicol. 28(1):9-16 (1946), methods and results; summarized in Atlas shipyards.json yard records
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- Government industrial-hygiene survey of the era this hull was built in: the PHS surveyed pipe-covering (insulation) operations during WWII construction of naval vessels across four yards - the build window in which DE-685 was constructed at Bethlehem Quincy - and documented that pipe-covering materials were asbestos, with heavy dust exposure in sawing, mixing, and applying insulation; 3 asbestosis cases among 1,074 pipe coverers x-rayed and elevated dust counts at multiple operations. Documents that asbestos insulation installation was standard, dusty shipyard work during naval-vessel construction in this hull's build window.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Pipe coverers and other naval-vessel construction trades, 1944-45
- Limitations
- Era-level survey, not a hull or yard-of-record finding: the four surveyed yards are anonymized (Navy Yards A and B; Contract Yards C and D) and Bethlehem Quincy is not identified among them; establishes the practice and hazard in the industry during this hull's construction period only. Does not establish exposure of any Coates builder or crew member.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-coates-de685-05
-
[7]GAO, 'Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure,' HRD-80-2 (published 1979-10-18, released 1979-10-22) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (summary/highlights)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO program-level review of Navy asbestos use and worker protection: the product-page description documents that the Navy's 1975 policy removed and replaced only damaged insulation or insulation removed for necessary repairs, modified in 1979 to selectively replace asbestos insulation in high-maintenance areas; the report's indexed full text includes a 5 January 1979 Navy letter (Ser 4542/318054) stating that 'thermal insulation for machinery, equipment and piping systems has been the major application of asbestos' aboard Navy ships and that all ships then in service contained some quantity of asbestos. For this hull: Coates was struck 30 January 1970 and sunk as a target 19 September 1971 - she left Navy custody before the documented removal-policy era began, so no abatement-era record would be expected for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1979 (scope); 1979 (report)
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers (program level)
- Limitations
- Program-level context only - fieldwork covered Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards, not this vessel; establishes era practice and the timing context for the absence of any abatement record aboard this hull, nothing more. gao.gov blocks automated fetches (HTTP 403); the product-page description was relied on and the report full text was not reviewed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-coates-de685-06
-
[8]CourtListener API v4 searches: "USS Coates" (type=o) and "DE-685" (type=o), authenticated, 2026-09-29 [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener search results, sl-uss-coates-de685-04 through -07
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Litigation sweep for this hull: the only published opinion naming 'USS Coates' is Hammond v. Lenfest, 398 F.2d 705 (2d Cir. 1968) - non-asbestos habeas/military-administrative litigation, classified 'other litigation' (see ev-02). 'DE-685' returns five hits, all identifier collisions in unrelated matters (NY transit appeal; S.D. Fla. and N.D. Ind. criminal/civil dockets; Puerto Rico appellate; Fifth Circuit habeas) - none vessel-related, none qualifying asbestos litigation. No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 2026-09-29
- Limitations
- Sweep coverage is not exhaustive: RECAP docket-index queries and a surname-collision screen ('Coates' asbestos dockets) were constrained by fleet-shared CourtListener pacing and are logged pending in the search_ledger; additional non-indexed pleadings may exist. A 'no result' here means no qualifying hit was located, not that none exists.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-coates-de685-07
-
[9]Batch-4462 search ledger (this record): DANFS transcription; NARA/DPLA war-diary holdings; CourtListener exact-name and hull-number queries; shipyard dataset; disposal-history searches; asbestos-specific web searches [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-coates-de685-08 through sl-uss-coates-de685-11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-685: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no hazmat or disposal disclosure (including for the 1971 target sinking - the sinking location and any pre-sinking material removal are undocumented), no qualifying asbestos litigation naming the vessel, and no museum custody (the hull does not survive). Asbestos-specific web searches returned only law-firm marketing pages - banned sources, logged as exclusions.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 2026-09-29
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1943 steam-driven escort sunk unmitigated in 1971 would plausibly have carried retained era materials; the inference stays class/era-level. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-coates-de685-08
