Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
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[1]DANFS, USS Commencement Bay (CVE-105) entry (verbatim transcription; live NHHC page returned 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS CVE-105 entry, construction and service paragraphs
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS documents: launched 9 May 1944 by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Tacoma, Wash.; commissioned 27 November 1944; served 1 February - 2 October 1945 as a training ship in Puget Sound, training 545 officers and 5,053 men of precommissioning crews for sister escort carriers and qualifying 249 pilots of eight air groups; Pearl Harbor training/carrier qualifications November 1945; placed out of commission, in reserve, at Tacoma 30 November 1946; reclassified CVHE-105 (12 June 1955) and AKV-37 (7 May 1959); stricken 1 April 1971 and sold 25 August 1972.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1944-1972
- Population
- Crew and precommissioning trainees (1944-46)
- Limitations
- Documents construction, service, reclassifications, and disposal of this hull; contains no insulation, material, or asbestos information. Yard named as Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp. - the yard's name before the June 1944 corporate renaming to Todd-Pacific Shipyards, Inc.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-commencement-bay-cve105-01
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[2]NavSource Online, Escort Carrier Photo Archive, USS Commencement Bay (CVE-105) - Operational and Building Data + navypedia class technical block [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource CVE-105 page, Operational and Building Data block; navypedia us_cv_commencement_bay.htm technical block
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NavSource building data documents: initially named St. Joseph Bay; keel laid 23 September 1943; launched 9 May 1944; commissioned 27 November 1944; decommissioned 30 November 1946; renamed Commencement Bay 10 July 1944 for the bay near the shipyard where she was built. Class machinery data (NavSource/navypedia): 16,000 shp, geared turbines, 2 screws, 19 knots, crew 1,066; navypedia technical block gives 4 Combustion Engineering boilers and 2 Allis-Chalmers (source spelling 'Allison-Chalmers') geared steam turbine sets.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1943-1972
- Population
- n/a (building data)
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary sources consistent with DANFS on all overlapping facts; keel date is from NavSource/navypedia, not DANFS (which omits it). No insulation/asbestos content. 'Allis-Chalmers' carried as the correct manufacturer spelling; both compiled sources misspell it.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-commencement-bay-cve105-02
-
[3]U.S. Navy, Bureau of Ships Technical Manual, NAVSHIPS 250-000, Chapter 39 'Thermal Insulation' (1960, page date 15 April 1959) - specification-level document for Navy shipboard insulation materials [other_primary]
- Locator
- BuShips TM ch.39, sections 39-11 through 39-13 (materials)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- The 1960 BuShips Technical Manual's insulation chapter enumerates the asbestos material suite standard to Navy steam plants of this hull's construction era: MIL-I-2781 pipe covering including 85% magnesia 'formed from a combination of 85 percent magnesium carbonate with about 15 percent asbestos fiber' and a class 'formed from a uniform mixture of amosite asbestos fibers'; roll asbestos felt MIL-I-15091; asbestos cloth/tape SS-C-466 (80-95% chrysotile) as lagging; asbestos millboard HH-M-351; asbestos finishing cement; molded asbestos block for high-temperature service. This hull's four Combustion Engineering boilers, two Allis-Chalmers geared turbines, and associated steam piping are the equipment classes these specifications cover.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1960 (manual); describes era-standard specifications
- Population
- Construction trades (Tacoma, 1943-44); crew (1944-46)
- Limitations
- Specification-level documentation of materials the Navy specified, not a ship-specific installation record - establishes the era insulation suite, not what was installed on this hull. Keel-to-commissioning window (1943-44) is inside the asbestos-spec period. Retrieved PDF is a scan hosted in the Garlock bankruptcy Daubert-appendix repository; the document itself is the government manual (verified legible 2026-09-18; also independently verified in the class-D profile 2026-09-16).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-commencement-bay-cve105-03
-
[4]Port of Tacoma v. Todd Shipyards Corp. et al., No. 3:08-cv-05132-BHS (W.D. Wash.), Order approving TSC settlement (Doc. 139, 2010-09-09); allegations recited from Port's CERCLA contribution complaint (Doc. 58) [court_record]
- Locator
- Order Doc. 139 at 1-3; complaint summary Doc. 58 (Shipbuilding Site, 1916-1946)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- A W.D. Wash. order recites the Port of Tacoma's CERCLA/MTCA contribution allegations that Todd Shipyards Corporation owned and operated parcels near the mouth of the Hylebos Waterway in Tacoma - 'the Shipbuilding Site' - from 1916 through 1946, and that Todd's shipbuilding operations disposed of contaminated material and hazardous substances into the waterway. The Shipbuilding Site is the Commencement Bay yard where this hull was built; a settlement releasing TSC (Todd) was approved.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1916-1946 site era; litigation 2005-2010
- Population
- Todd Tacoma yard workforce (allegation-level)
- Limitations
- Establishes the builder's site identity and operating era (1916-1946) at the location of construction. The litigated contaminants were listed hazardous substances (metals, PAHs, PCBs) - asbestos is not among the recited substances; the order recites allegations for settlement approval, not findings of contamination or exposure. No individual or hull-level exposure is established.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-commencement-bay-cve105-04
-
[5]Herring v. Texaco, Inc., 161 Wn.2d 189, 165 P.3d 4 (Wash. 2007) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion, 161 Wn.2d 189 (No. 78774-3)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Washington Supreme Court opinion documents that Roger Herring worked for subcontractors at Todd Shipyards sites in the 1960s-early 1970s, developed pleural thickening (1986), asbestosis (~1989), and fatal mesothelioma (2002), and that his suit against Todd was barred because his asbestos claims were discharged in Todd's 1987 Chapter 11 bankruptcy (published-notice sufficiency was the litigated issue). Documents that occupational asbestos-exposure claims were litigated against this hull's builder corporate family in the postwar era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1960s-2007
- Population
- Todd Shipyards subcontractor worker (mesothelioma)
- Limitations
- Yard/corporate-level litigation at Todd's Puget Sound operations post-dating this hull's construction era; does not name this hull, does not adjudicate exposure aboard any specific vessel, and Herring's claim was barred on bankruptcy-discharge grounds - a merits-level negative for that plaintiff, not affirmative exposure evidence. Construction-era (1943-44) conditions at the Tacoma yard are not addressed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-commencement-bay-cve105-05
-
[6]Batch-54 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NavSource/navypedia ship records; CourtListener-domain searches by exact name and hull number; builder-yard litigation verification [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-commencement-bay-cve105-01 through -08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, insulation specification, abatement contract, or docketed asbestos case naming USS Commencement Bay (CVE-105) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). Litigation-index sweeps returned only Commencement Bay Nearshore/Tideflats Superfund CERCLA matters - the Tacoma geographic feature, a name collision, not this hull.
- 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 - a 1943-44 Tacoma construction sits inside the Navy's asbestos-specification era and the negative reflects record availability, not hull condition. CourtListener API was rate-limited (HTTP 429, daily cap) and its HTML interface CloudFront-blocked on 2026-09-18; the domain-restricted index sweep is a degraded but honest substitute, logged in the ledger. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-commencement-bay-cve105-06