Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
-
[1]research packet je-packet.md (2 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: **VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-converse-dd291-pkt-je-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Converse I (DD-291) (namesake biography, builder, dates, service narrative, disposal; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404; 2004 Wayback capture of history.navy.mil/danfs/c13/converse-i.htm confirms identical text) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, namesake biography + specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: named for Rear Admiral George A. Converse (born 13 May 1844, Norwich, Vt.; pioneer in shipboard electricity, smokeless powder, and torpedo boats; commanded Montgomery off Cuba in the Spanish-American War; Chief of the Bureaus of Equipment, Ordnance, and Navigation 1903-1906; died 29 March 1909). Launched 28 November 1919 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Squantum, Mass.; sponsored by Miss E. C. Colt; commissioned 28 April 1920, Lt. Comdr. E. G. Haas in command; reported to the Atlantic Fleet. Specifications block: displacement 1,215; length 314'5"; beam 31'8"; draft 9'4"; speed 35 kt; complement 120; armament 4 x 4", 2 x 3", 4 x 21" torpedo tubes; class label 'Belknap' (the alternate DANFS designation for the Clemson design group). Service: reserve status 11 June 1920 with 50-percent complement on Naval Reserve training cruises in New England waters; Arma gyro-compass tests; Scouting Fleet from 15 November 1921; full commission 1 July 1922, east coast and Caribbean; Newport to U.S. Naval Forces European Waters 18 June 1924 (Antwerp, Amsterdam, Cherbourg, Southampton), returned New York 16 July 1925; Naval Reserve training cruises 1926-1927; Flettner-rudder trials from 23 February 1927; designated Experimental Ship, Scouting Fleet, in 1928 (Bureau of Engineering test runs in the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay; experimental torpedoes at Newport and Charleston); rejoined squadron at Norfolk 4 January 1929; decommissioned at Philadelphia 1 May 1930; sold 17 January 1931 for scrapping in accordance with the London Treaty for the limitation and reduction of naval armaments.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1919-1931
- Population
- Bethlehem Shipbuilding construction trades 1919; interwar crew (design complement 120)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. DANFS gives no laid-down or stricken date for this hull; those fields are sourced to NavSource (ev-02). Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404; a 2004 Wayback capture of the history.navy.mil original confirms the text verbatim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-converse-dd291-01
-
[3]NavSource Naval History, Destroyer Photo Index DD-291 USS Converse (building/operational data, machinery line, stricken date, disposal buyer, commanding-officer roster, photo captions) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DD-291 index page: 'Operational and Building Data' block + 'Fate' line + photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull: class label 'BELKNAP'; displacement 1,215 tons; 314'5" x 31'8" x 9'10" (max); armament 4 x 4"/50, 1 x 3"/23AA, 12 x 21" torpedo tubes; machinery 26,500 shp geared turbines, 2 screws; speed 35 kt; crew 114. Laid down 13 August 1919 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding, Squantum, MA; launched 28 November 1919; commissioned 28 April 1920; decommissioned 1 May 1930; stricken 22 October 1930; sold in a block buy to Boston Metals, Baltimore, MD, at $5,789 per hull. Photo captions corroborate NHHC catalog file S-553-S (at Boston Navy Yard 29 April 1920) and a Philadelphia Navy Yard photograph of her 2 May 1927 Delaware River return from an experimental Flettner-rudder trial.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1919-1931
- Population
- Crew 1920-1930 (NavSource figure 114)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-run photographic archive - not an official record; used here for the dates DANFS omits (laid down, stricken) and the disposal buyer. All overlapping dates match DANFS exactly. Its stricken date (22 October 1930) conflicts with Wikipedia's infobox (17 January 1931, conflating the strike with the sale) - carried in gaps. Crew figure 114 conflicts with DANFS 120. The $5,789 block-buy price and Boston Metals buyer are single-sourced to NavSource.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-converse-dd291-02
-
[4]DANFS specifications block (class label 'Belknap' = Clemson design group; 35 kt; complement 120) + Atlas shipyard dataset, Bethlehem Shipbuilding record (yard-level asbestos product documentation); NARA RG19 General Information Books archival lead [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block; shipyards.json record 'bethlehem-shipbuilding'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a WWI-era Clemson-class flush-deck destroyer built 1919 with a four water-tube boiler, geared steam-turbine plant (26,500 shp per NavSource) would have carried period-standard asbestos boiler and steam-line insulation, turbine lagging, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing; builder Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. (Squantum, Quincy) is documented at yard level in the Atlas dataset (evidence_tier 3; documented products incl. magnesia block insulation, asbestos lagging, gaskets and packing materials, asbestos cement and board) though the yard-level evidence is weighted toward Bethlehem's Maryland (Sparrows Point) operations rather than the Squantum yard specifically. 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
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1919-1931
- Population
- Bethlehem Shipbuilding construction trades 1919; crew 1920-1930
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No ship-specific documentation was located for this hull. The yard dataset's cohort evidence addresses Bethlehem's Maryland workforce, not the Squantum yard that built DD-291; yard-level product documentation does not establish what was installed aboard this hull. Does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure. NARA GIB retrieval not performed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-converse-dd291-03
-
[5]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s - placing DD-291's construction (1919) and entire commissioned service (1920-1930) inside the documented asbestos-use era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1979 (report); era context for 1919-1931 hull
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. Full report text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403) - content via product-page description. The report addresses the mid-20th-century fleet and 1970s substitution policy; it does not itemize WWI-era flush-deck destroyers.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-converse-dd291-04
-
[6]CourtListener API v4 authenticated sweep (cl-auth-search.py helper; fleet-paced shared quota) [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-converse-dd291-06, -07, and -08
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Authenticated CourtListener opinion sweep returned ZERO hits for the exact phrase "USS Converse" and for the combined variants "U.S.S. Converse" / "aboard the Converse" - no published opinion names either USS Converse hull. The RECAP docket sweep for "USS Converse" and the hull-number sweep for "DD-291"/"DD 291" were attempted but blocked by the fleet-wide pacing limiter (stand-down signal returned across ~50 minutes of retries); logged as blocked in the ledger, not silently dropped.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Partial sweep: opinion index fully negative (two clean authenticated queries); docket and hull-number surfaces unchecked due to fleet pacing - residual risk low because the hull's 1920-1930 service predates asbestos litigation by decades and the sole same-name hull (DD-509, Fletcher-class, commissioned 1942) would surface under the name queries that returned zero. No qualifying case located; no finding is asserted beyond the completed query scope.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-converse-dd291-05
-
[7]Batch-3285 search ledger (this record): DANFS mirror + Wayback NHHC capture; Naval Vessel Register ship-detail query; NARA catalog (deck logs); GAO HRD-80-2 product page; Atlas shipyards.json Bethlehem record; NavSource DD-291 index; CourtListener authenticated sweep (see sl-06/-07/-08 for status); law-firm ship-list pages (excluded per sourcing rules) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-converse-dd291-01 through sl-uss-converse-dd291-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No hull-specific asbestos survey, abatement record, materials inventory, hazmat disclosure, or verified litigation record naming DD-291 was located in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The ship was stricken in 1930 and sold for scrap in 1931 - decades before modern asbestos documentation practice - and never became a museum, so the museum-disclosure and abatement-record channels that produced ship-specific records for preserved hulls do not exist here.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - era-standard applications are documented at class/era level (ev-03, ev-04) and the 1919 steam plant is of the type that carried asbestos insulation. The hull no longer exists, so present-day ACM status is moot. This finding reflects a search of public/official sources only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-converse-dd291-06