Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
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[1]DANFS, Columbia VI (CL-56) (builder, launch/commission dates, spec block, full WWII service narrative, disposal; verbatim HyperWar/ibiblio transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + full service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: launched 17 December 1941 by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J. (sponsored by Miss J. A. Paschal); commissioned 29 July 1942, Capt. W. A. Heard in command. Pacific service from December 1942: Battle of Rennell Island (January 1943); Solomons/New Georgia patrols and the Munda bombardments; Sydney overhaul September 1943; Bougainville/Shortlands bombardments and the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay (night of 2 November 1943 - joined in sinking a Japanese cruiser and a destroyer); Green Islands and Emirau; San Francisco overhaul April-August 1944; Palaus/Peleliu; Leyte landings and Surigao Strait (24-25 October 1944 - delivered the final blows sinking destroyer Asagumo); Mindoro; Lingayen Gulf kamikaze hits 6 January 1945 (13 killed, 44 wounded) and 9 January 1945 (24 killed, 97 wounded) with the ship completing her bombardment and earning the Navy Unit Commendation; Balikpapan; TF 95 East China Sea sweeps; Truk inspection parties. Decommissioned in reserve at Philadelphia 30 November 1946; sold 18 February 1959. Ten battle stars plus the Navy Unit Commendation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1941-1959
- Population
- Construction trades 1940-42 (New York Shipbuilding, Camden); crew 1942-46; reserve-fleet caretakers 1946-59
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content; gives no laid-down or stricken date; kamikaze casualty figures differ from secondary histories (Stern counts 17 killed/60 wounded/20 missing for 6 Jan and 17/97/6 missing for 9 Jan); names one Navy Unit Commendation where NavSource's ribbon list and the Stern account show two (Empress Augusta Bay and Lingayen). Transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-columbia-cl56-01
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[2]NavSource Online Cruiser Photo Archive, USS Columbia (CL-56) page - Operational and Building Data block, awards ribbon list, and contributor photo captions [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource CL-56 page, Operational and Building Data block + awards ribbon table + caption for image 0405618/0405619
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Compiled record for this hull: keel laid 18 August 1940 by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden NJ; launched 17 December 1941; commissioned 29 July 1942; decommissioned 30 November 1946; stricken date marked '?' in the source; sold for scrap 18 February 1959 to Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Chester, PA for $188,888.87. Awards list shows two Navy Unit Commendations, ten Asiatic-Pacific campaign stars, Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, and Philippine Liberation Medal (3). A contributor photo caption documents the hull shifted from Philadelphia Naval Shipyard reserve berthing to Sun's Chester yard for scrapping in 1959 (tug Triton, the same tug that assisted her 1941 launch).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1940-1960
- Population
- Reserve-fleet caretakers 1946-59; shipbreaking workers, Sun Shipbuilding Chester 1959-60
- Limitations
- Volunteer-compiled secondary record - corroborates DANFS dates and supplies the keel date and scrap-buyer identity DANFS lacks, but marks the stricken date unknown and reports the sale price as recorded; buyer identity conflicts with the Stern-derived 'Boston Metals Company' account (carried in gaps); contributor captions are unverified recollections.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-columbia-cl56-02
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[3]DANFS specifications block (Cleveland class; 33 kt; cpl. 992) + U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships Technical Manual NAVSHIPS 250-000 ch.39 'Thermal Insulation' (1960) era material suite + Atlas shipyard dataset 'new-york-shipbuilding' record (documented era asbestos products and worker-cohort findings) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS spec block; BuShips TM ch.39 sections 39-11 through 39-13; shipyards.json record 'new-york-shipbuilding'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era inference: Columbia's documented plant - the uniform Cleveland-class fit of 4 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 4 GE geared steam turbines, 4 shafts, 100,000 shp (NavSource; BuShips Ships' Data 1945 class machinery table) - was built 1940-42 at New York Shipbuilding, Camden NJ, squarely in the Navy's documented asbestos-insulation era. The 1960 BuShips Technical Manual ch.39 enumerates the era-standard suite applicable to this construction period: MIL-P-2781 pipe covering (85% magnesia ~15% asbestos fiber; amosite-fiber classes), asbestos felt MIL-I-15091, asbestos cloth/tape SS-C-466 lagging (80-95% chrysotile), asbestos millboard HH-M-351, asbestos finishing cement, and molded asbestos block. The builder yard is documented in the Atlas shipyards dataset with era asbestos products (Pabco Six-Ply Super Caltemp block, 85% magnesia insulation, Transite panels, gaskets, packing, wire insulation) and shipyard-worker cohort findings.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1940-1946 (manual describes era-standard specifications)
- Population
- New York Shipbuilding construction trades 1940-42; crew 1942-46
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No CL-56 insulation schedule, materials list, or survey is located; specifications establish what the era required, not what was installed aboard this hull; no quantities; does not establish any individual's exposure. BuShips TM scan hosted in the Garlock bankruptcy Daubert-appendix repository (verified 2026-09-16 in the class profile).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-columbia-cl56-03
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[4]DANFS service narrative (yard periods) + Robert C. Stern's ship history as recited in the Wikipedia article 'USS Columbia (CL-56)' (granular repair dates and fitting-out detail) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS service narrative; Wikipedia 'USS Columbia (CL-56)' Service history > Repairs + Post-war service (citing Stern)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented ship-specific yard periods at which era-standard insulation disturbance is inferred: moved to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for fitting-out before commissioning and repaired/altered at Norfolk Navy Yard after shakedown (1942); brief overhaul at Sydney, Australia (September 1943); San Francisco overhaul (work 23 April - 20 June 1944, plus defect work through 29 June); Lingayen kamikaze reconstruction at San Pedro, California (emergency patching at San Pedro Bay, Leyte, and Seeadler Harbor; drydocked 12 February 1945; repairs plus modifications - twin 20 mm mounts, improved radars, turret improvements - through mid-April; fit for service 13 May 1945); Philadelphia Naval Shipyard overhaul from 5 December 1945 followed by thirteen years of Atlantic Reserve Fleet lay-up at Philadelphia (1946-1959).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1942-1959
- Population
- Navy yard and commercial-yard repair workers 1942-46 (Philadelphia, Norfolk, Sydney, San Francisco, San Pedro); reserve-fleet caretakers 1946-59
- Limitations
- Yard periods are documented events (DANFS corroborates each at coarser grain; Stern's day-level detail via Wikipedia is secondary and carries the internal 29 June vs 29 July commissioning-date conflict). Insulation disturbance at these periods is era inference, not a documented abatement or materials record - no work package or materials schedule for this hull is located. Repair yards for the 1944 San Francisco overhaul and the 1945 San Pedro reconstruction are not named in the sources consulted.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-columbia-cl56-04
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[5]This record's search ledger: CourtListener REST API v4 opinion (type=o) and RECAP docket (type=r) sweeps, 2026-09-19; corroborated by the Cleveland-class profile's zero-qualifying member sweep of 2026-09-16 [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-columbia-cl56-05 and -06
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no hull survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed asbestos case names USS Columbia (CL-56). CourtListener opinion sweeps ('USS Columbia' + asbestos; 'U.S.S. Columbia' + asbestos; 'aboard the USS Columbia'; 'CL-56' + asbestos; 'Columbia' + 'CL-56'; 'Columbia' asbestos cruiser Navy) returned zero qualifying results - every hit classifies as a name collision (District of Columbia entities and municipal litigation; a power-machinery contract dispute; a CERCLA property-cost case containing a 'CL-56' token). The RECAP docket search 'USS Columbia' returned 3 non-asbestos collisions (a vaccine-mandate challenge, a shipping contract dispute, a criminal case). A prior Cleveland-class CourtListener sweep (class profile, 2026-09-16) likewise found zero qualifying opinions across all 27 class members.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- search conducted 2026-09-19
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence - state-court asbestos matters outside the CourtListener index may exist, and 'Columbia' queries carry heavy collision noise (District of Columbia; the C-12/AG-9 namesake cruiser; SSBN-826; Apollo/shuttle Columbia) that could mask a marginal reference. The hull was scrapped in 1959-60, before asbestos litigation matured, so absence is unsurprising.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-columbia-cl56-05
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[6]12th Naval District correspondence index, line 1305: 'CL56/S19 Serial 082 - USS COLUMBIA CL56, Camouflage of' (usnavyresearch.info index of NARA district files); NARA RG 19 BuShips construction/damage series; Philadelphia Naval Shipyard reserve-fleet and Sun Shipbreaking-period records [other_primary]
- Locator
- usnavyresearch.info 12th Naval District Letters 1001-2000, line 1305; NARA RG 19 (not yet searched on-site)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads for hull-specific material records: (a) the 12th Naval District letters index lists hull-level Bureau correspondence for this vessel - 'CL56/S19 Serial 082 - USS COLUMBIA CL56, Camouflage of' - showing district-file correspondence exists; (b) the Bureau of Ships War Damage Report series documents Cleveland-class battle damage (e.g., No. 53 for Denver CL-58) and the usnavyresearch index holds a War Damage Reports section - whether a Columbia-specific report on the January 1945 Lingayen damage exists in Navy Department Library/NARA holdings is unverified; (c) Philadelphia Naval Shipyard inactivation/reserve-fleet records (1946-59) and Sun Shipbuilding breaking records (1959-60) are the likeliest unmined material-condition sources.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- n/a
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Holding locations inferred from index entries and standard records disposition; document contents were not read this session - series/box-level verification and reproduction-order pulls are still required.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-columbia-cl56-06