Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]research packet km-packet.md (1 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-cockrill-de398-pkt-km-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Cockrill (DE-398) (namesake biography, launch/commission, Atlantic convoy and hunter-killer service incl. U-546 attack, Pacific occupation support, decommissioning; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative (HazeGray transcription mirrored at losthistory.net; Wayback capture of canonical hazegray.org URL exists 2024-08-31)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: named for Dan Robertson Cockrill (born Nashville 27 March 1914; Ensign 18 May 1935; joined USS Meredith DD-434 22 October 1941; died 19 October 1942 of injuries when Meredith was torpedoed). Launched 29 October 1943 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex.; sponsored by Mrs. Cockrill, mother of Lieutenant Cockrill; commissioned 24 December 1943, LCDR S. Farnham in command; reported to the Atlantic Fleet. Convoy escort Norfolk-Casablanca (23 Feb-5 Apr 1944) and Norfolk-Bizerte (24 Jul-7 Sep 1944); submarine search Gulf of Mexico (4 Dec 1944); training with the Bogue (CVE-9) escort unit, Narragansett Bay, and Casco Bay. Antisubmarine barrier patrol with the Bogue group 11 Apr-11 May 1945; participated 24 April in the attack on U-546, forced to the surface and scuttled. Via Charleston, Guantanamo, Panama Canal, San Diego (14 Jul 1945) to Pearl Harbor; Saipan 30 Aug; convoy escort Saipan/Guam to Okinawa and Japanese ports for the occupation; Guam training 14 Nov 1945-11 Jan 1946; Boston 26 Feb; decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla., Reserve Fleet, 21 June 1946.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; wartime crew (design complement 186 per DANFS spec line)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The transcription carries no laid-down date and ends at decommissioning - stricken/sinking dates come from NavSource, not this source. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404 (standing NHHC link-rot issue).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cockrill-de398-01
-
[3]NavSource Online, Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Cockrill (DE-398) - building/operational data, specifications block, commanding officers, and link to the ship-submitted War History scan [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-398 page, 'Building and Operational Data' and 'Specifications' blocks; commanding-officer table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull: keel laid 31 August 1943 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex.; launched and christened 29 October 1943 (sponsor Mrs. Cockrill); commissioned 24 December 1943 at the Tennessee Coal and Iron Co. pier by Capt. DeWitt C. Redgrave Jr., LCDR S. Farnham in command; decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla., 21 June 1946 after 2 years 6 months service; struck from the NVR 1 August 1973; sunk as a target off the Florida coast 19 November 1974. Type listed as FMR (geared diesel, Fairbanks-Morse reverse gear drive, 3-inch guns): 4 Fairbanks-Morse Mod. 38D8-1/8 geared diesel engines, 4 diesel-generators, 6,000 shp, 2 screws; 21 kt; complement 8 officers / 201 enlisted. Commanding officers: LCDR Sherman Farnham USNR (1943-12-24 to 1944-12-04); Lt./LCDR John H. Castle Jr. USNR (to 1945-10-16); LCDR Joseph S. Rose Jr. USNR (to decommissioning).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1974
- Population
- Construction trades, Houston 1943; commissioning party; wartime crew
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-maintained photo/data archive, not an official record. Build and decommissioning dates cross-check with DANFS; the keel-laying date (1943-08-31), stricken date (1973-08-01), and target-sinking date (1974-11-19) are corroborated by secondary compilations (Wikipedia, hullnumber.com) but were not located in an official record this session. Contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cockrill-de398-02
-
[4]NARA Catalog: 'USS COCKRILL - War History' (NAID 77635316), RG 38 (Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations), series 'World War II War Diaries, Other Operational Records and Histories' (NAID 4697018), Micro Serial 156580, microfilm Roll A2043; digitized via Fold3. Also 'USS Cockrill - War Diary, 12/1-31/45' (NAID 633454170), Roll A2007 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA Catalog NAID 77635316 (War History, Roll A2043, images 0078-0086+) and NAID 633454170 (War Diary Dec 1945, Roll A2007); NavSource images/398/06398wh.jpg
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds digitized primary records for this hull: the ship-submitted War History (forwarding letter serial 562, FPO San Francisco, 14 January 1946, signed by commanding officer Joseph S. Rose Jr.; narrative written by Robert G. Caulk, SoM2c(T), USNR; covers 24 December 1943-1 January 1946; bears Micro Serial 156580 matching the NARA record - the same document NavSource displays as scan 06398wh.jpg) and monthly war diaries (e.g., December 1945, NAID 633454170) in the WWII War Diaries series, both scanned via the NARA-Fold3 partnership and held textually at NARA College Park.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946 (records); digitized via Fold3
- Limitations
- Primary operational records exist and are digitized - useful for pinning movements, yard periods, and underway time - but they are operational documents; no asbestos or materials content should be expected and none was extracted. Page-by-page review was not performed this session.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cockrill-de398-03
-
[5]DANFS/NavSource specifications blocks (Edsall class; FMR geared-diesel plant, 6,000 shp, 21 kt) + U.S. Naval Institute Naval History (June 2025) on the Brown Shipbuilding DE program [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-398 specifications block (propulsion line); DANFS spec line (dp 1,200, 306 ft, 21 kt, cpl 186); USNI Naval History June 2025 article
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: an Edsall-class destroyer escort built Aug-Dec 1943 would have carried era-standard asbestos applications appropriate to a geared-diesel ship - engine exhaust and muffler insulation, gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, winch/windlass brake linings, deck coverings, and bulkhead insulation. The FMR plant has no boilers or steam propulsion, so the dominant asbestos categories of steam ships (boiler and steam-line lagging) do not apply. Builder Brown Shipbuilding is not an Atlas shipyards.json entry, so no yard-level asbestos record is linked.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; wartime crew
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No materials list, plan, or survey names this hull; does not quantify material, does not establish any individual's exposure, and does not address whether any such material survived the ship's 1974 sinking (it did not - the hull is not extant).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cockrill-de398-04
-
[6]U.S. Naval Institute, Naval History, Vol. 39 No. 3 (June 2025): 'The Brown Shipbuilding Company's Rise During World War II' [reputable_press]
- Locator
- USNI Naval History June 2025 article text (contract history, Greens Bayou site, DE production figures)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Builder context: Brown Shipbuilding Company (George and Herman Brown / Brown & Root) operated an emergency wartime yard on Greens Bayou off the Houston Ship Channel, launching vessels from sideways slips; the yard received Navy contracts for submarine chasers, destroyer escorts, and landing craft, built 61 destroyer escorts with an average delivery of one ship per week at about $3.3 million per vessel, and received the Army-Navy 'E' production award in December 1942. The workforce was recruited and trained largely from unskilled labor.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1941-1945
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding workforce, 1941-1945
- Limitations
- Yard-level context only - the article does not name DE-398 and contains no asbestos, materials, or industrial-hygiene information about the yard's work practices. Establishes the build environment and production tempo for this hull's construction period.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cockrill-de398-05
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[7]Batch-4297 search ledger (this record): CourtListener API v4 exact-name and hull-number sweep; NARA digitized war history/diaries; NavSource; NHHC/DANFS transcription; Atlas shipyard dataset [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-cockrill-de398-01 through -07 (incl. -06b)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-398: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no hazmat disclosure, and no qualifying asbestos case naming the vessel was located. CourtListener sweep completed 2026-09-28: exact-name queries returned zero hits in both the opinion and RECAP docket indexes; hull-number 'DE-398' hits are string collisions in unrelated litigation, none vessel-related (see search_ledger).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - it establishes only that no qualifying ship-specific record was found in the sources searched. The hull was sunk as a target in 1974 and is not extant, so no present-day survey or abatement record is expected. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cockrill-de398-06