Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
-
[1]research packet kq-packet.md (7 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS Conklin
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-conklin-de439-pkt-kq-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Conklin (DE-439) (namesake, builder, launch/commission, service narrative, decommissioning; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404; matching text confirmed in a 2021 Wayback capture of the NHHC page) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: launched 13 February 1944 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newark, N.J.; sponsored by Mrs. T. Conklin; commissioned 21 April 1944, Comdr. D. C. Brown, USNR, in command; reached Pearl Harbor 30 July 1944; convoy escort between Kwajalein, Eniwetok, and Guam; planeguard at Guam; anti-submarine patrol off Saipan; reached Leyte 14 November 1944 and joined a hunter-killer group off Kossol Passage, where she and McCoy Reynolds (DE-440) sank a Japanese submarine on 19-20 November 1944 (entry reads 20 November, I-177); on 21 January 1945 joined another hunter-killer group near Ulithi and headed a team with Corbesier (DE-438) and Raby (DE-698) in sinking a second submarine (entry reads 25 January, I-47); screened the TF 58 logistics group for the Okinawa operation 20 March-5 June 1945; heavily damaged in a typhoon off Okinawa 5 June 1945 (one man killed, many injured, two washed overboard with one rescued); emergency repairs at Guam; complete overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard from 17 June 1945; decommissioned and placed in reserve at San Diego 17 January 1946; three battle stars for World War II service. Specifications block: 1,350 tons, 306 ft, 36 ft 8 in beam, 24 kt, complement 186, John C. Butler class.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew (design complement 186)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The submarine identifications in this entry (I-177, I-47) conflict with postwar assessments and the McCoy Reynolds DANFS entry (I-37, I-48) - carried in gaps. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404; the NHHC text was confirmed identical in a 2021-03-20 Wayback capture.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-conklin-de439-01
-
[3]NavSource Online Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Conklin (DE-439) building and operational data (via Wayback capture 2024-11-07; live host unreachable to automated fetch) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-439 page, 'Building and Operational Data' chronology
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Secondary compilation record for this hull: keel laid 4 November 1943 at Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newark, N.J.; launched and christened 13 February 1944; commissioned 21 April 1944 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; during the 5 June 1945 typhoon logged a 78-degree inclinometer reading; on 16 September 1945, outbound after the Mare Island yard period, collided with Liberty ship SS David Starr Jordan in the Golden Gate channel; decommissioned at San Diego 17 January 1946 after steaming 109,159 miles; inactivated 2 December 1946 and assigned to the San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet; struck from the NVR 1 October 1970; sold for scrapping 12 May 1972.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1972
- Population
- Reserve-fleet and disposal-chain personnel 1946-1972
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-maintained secondary archive, not an official record - dates are consistent across NavSource, uboat.net, and the John C. Butler class profile but are not confirmed against the primary NVR page (pre-1987 disposals are excluded from the live register). Typhoon casualty count differs from DANFS (NavSource reads three lost or killed); submarine identities/dates also differ (NavSource reads I-37 on 14 Nov 1944, I-48 on 23 Jan 1945) - conflicts carried in gaps. Establishes no asbestos facts.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-conklin-de439-02
-
[4]BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 1 design-group 6 (WGT) block + navypedia WGT page boiler map for the DE-438-452 block; DANFS specifications block [other_primary]
- Locator
- navypedia WGT page, DE-439 row and boiler block map; BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 1 design-group 6 table; DANFS spec block
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: this hull's plant was the John C. Butler-class geared-turbine (WGT) installation - two superheated 'D'-type express boilers (435 psi / 750 deg F; Babcock & Wilcox for the DE-438-452 block per navypedia) driving two Westinghouse geared steam turbines at 12,000 shp. A superheated-steam plant of 1943-44 construction would have carried period-standard asbestos applications: boiler and steam-drum insulation, steam-line lagging, valve and flange gaskets, machinery packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings. Sister-hull litigation (USS Brannon DE-446, Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec, W.D. Wash. 2:17-cv-00537, pretrial stage) identifies the era insulation-spec suite for these ships: BuShips Manual ch. 39 Thermal Insulation NAVSHIPS 250-000(39) (1945) and Navy Dept spec 32F3a 'Felt, Insulating, Asbestos' (Oct 1945).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No material schedule, insulation plan, or ship-specific spec for DE-439 was located; the named spec suite derives from litigation against a sister hull (DE-446) and is an archival lead, not a finding for this hull. Establishes no quantity, no individual exposure, no present-day material.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-conklin-de439-03
-
[5]Owens-Illinois, Inc., Industrial Health Survey of Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J. (Aug. 30-Sep. 2, 1944); introduced as Owens-Illinois interrogatory exhibit #20 in Heathman v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., Brazoria County, Tex. (1990); carried in the Atlas shipyard dataset record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipyards.json record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' (evidence ev-federal-kearny-ihs-1944); survey exhibit at toxicdocs.org
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Builder-yard documentation: an Owens-Illinois industrial health survey of the yard that built this hull documented insulator work with Johns-Manville Superex asbestos pipe covering and boiler insulation in confined shipyard spaces, with dust counts measured during cutting and fitting operations. The survey was conducted 30 August-2 September 1944 - approximately four months after Conklin's 21 April 1944 commissioning - documenting product lines in use at the yard during the same wartime construction period (Superex documented 1940-1948 at this yard).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944 (survey Aug 30-Sep 2)
- Population
- Shipyard insulators and pipefitters at Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock, Kearny, 1944
- Limitations
- Yard-level document, not a hull record - the survey postdates this hull's completion by roughly four months and does not name DE-439. It establishes that asbestos products were being worked at the builder's yard in the same era, not that specific products were installed aboard this hull. Survey by a manufacturer with commercial interest; dust counts in mppcf (pre-fiber-count era).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-conklin-de439-04
-
[6]NARA Navy deck-log holdings: Logbooks of the U.S. Navy Ships and Stations, 1941-1978 (catalog series NAID 594258) and RG 24 Entry 118; NARA/NOAA digitization of WWII-era (1941-1950) deck logs [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA deck-log reference pages; catalog series NAID 594258
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival lead: deck logs for this hull (1944-1946) are within NARA's Navy deck-log series (RG 24); WWII-era logs were included in the NOAA/NARA digitization collaboration and may be retrievable in the National Archives Catalog (series 594258) or from textual reference at Archives II. Deck logs would document underway periods, yard availabilities, and material-condition events relevant to any exposure analysis but do not inventory materials.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1946 (log coverage)
- Limitations
- Lead only - logs not retrieved or reviewed this session; digitization status for this hull unverified. Deck logs would not themselves document asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-conklin-de439-05
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 litigation sweep (authenticated, fleet-paced helper): 'USS Conklin' opinion index; 'USS Conklin' RECAP docket index; 'DE-439' opinion and docket queries [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-conklin-de439-03 through sl-uss-conklin-de439-06
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation names this hull. 'USS Conklin' opinion index: 4 hits, all classified non-qualifying - United States v. Mayo (N.M.C.C.A. 2015) and United States v. Nichlos (N.M.C.C.A. 2013) are Navy criminal appeals whose 'Conklin' token cannot reference a ship scrapped in 1972 (name collision or loose match); Wangler v. Lerol (N.D. 2003) is an insurance dispute (name collision); Owens Corning v. Bauman, 125 Md. App. 454 (1999), is an asbestos punitive-damages opinion whose token match is not verified as a hull reference (vessel mention unverifiable from index metadata). 'USS Conklin' docket index: 156 loose-match results; top-20 by relevance are all unrelated party-name matches (e.g., Conklin v. City of Reno, D. Nev. 3:18-cv-00260) plus the MDL-875 master docket as a token match within documents - no case names the vessel. 'DE-439' queries: see search_ledger for status.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Sweep covers indexed CourtListener opinion text and RECAP docket metadata only; PACER full-text and state-court filings are outside coverage. A name match is not a finding; absence of a located docket does not prove no claim was ever filed (many asbestos cases settle or are filed only in state court). Full-text review of the Owens Corning v. Bauman token match was not performed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-conklin-de439-06
-
[8]Batch-4329 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS transcription; NavSource operational chronology; NVR live register; Atlas shipyard dataset; NARA deck-log series; CourtListener exact-name and hull-number queries; class-profile background (john-c-butler-class.class.json) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-conklin-de439-01 through sl-uss-conklin-de439-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-439: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no museum or donation hazmat disclosure (the hull was scrapped in 1972 and never in museum custody), no MARAD vessel history card located, and no qualifying litigation naming the hull in the sources searched (see search_ledger). Ship-specific asbestos documentation status: unknown.
- 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 - a 1943-44 steam-powered destroyer escort would have been built amid the Navy's peak asbestos era; the finding documents the state of public records, not the hull's material condition. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-conklin-de439-07