Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
-
[1]research packet ij-packet.md (5 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: USS Cooner DE-172 → VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-cooner-de172-pkt-ij-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Cooner (DE-172) (namesake biography; specifications block; full WWII service narrative through decommissioning; verbatim transcription - live NHHC URL patterns return 404; hazegray mirror transcription carries the identical text) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'Cooner' - namesake paragraph + DE-172 specification block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull, including namesake biography: Bunyan Randolph Cooner, born Columbia, S.C., 27 February 1914; enlisted in the Naval Reserve 12 June 1939; commissioned ensign 3 September 1941; won the Navy Cross with Bombing Squadron 3 aboard Saratoga (CV-3) in the Battle of Midway; killed in a plane crash 16 June 1942. DE-172 was launched 23 July 1943 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Kearny, N.J., sponsored by Mrs. I. Cooner; commissioned 21 August 1943, Lt. Comdr. J. M. Stuart in command (keel date not given in DANFS - 22 February 1943 per secondary compilations). Specs: dp. 1,240; l. 306'; b. 36'8"; dr. 8'9"; s. 21 k.; cpl. 186; a. 3 3", 3 21" tt., 8 dcp., 1 dcp. (hh.), 2 dct.; cl. Cannon. Service: nine convoy-escort voyages New York to North African ports 1 November 1943-9 May 1945; ordered to the Pacific, Pearl Harbor 28 June 1945; Ulithi patrol and radar picket duty 8-20 August 1945; escorted a transport to Guam, called at Okinawa; carried troops Ulithi to Guam; Saipan air-sea rescue standby 23 September-1 November 1945; homeward via Pearl Harbor and San Diego to Charleston, S.C., arriving 4 December 1945; decommissioned and placed in reserve at Charleston 25 June 1946.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; wartime crew (design complement 186); reserve-fleet caretakers 1946-1973
- Limitations
- DANFS documents identity, construction, and service history - not materials or asbestos content. The entry text predates the 1972 striking and 1973 sale (stricken/sale dates rest on secondary compilations; see ev-03). Live NHHC page 404s; verbatim transcription mirrors cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cooner-de172-01
-
[3]Bureau of Ships, "Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels 1945" Vol. I (shipscribe.com scan), DET-design section and roster + Atlas class profile cannon-class (class-c/cannon-class.class.json) + NavSource Cannon class block for DE-172 (4 GM 16-278A diesels with electric drive, 6,000 shp, 2 screws, 21 kt) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1.pdf DET design section + roster; class-c cannon-class.class.json rows ev-cannon-class-01/-02/-03; navsource.org/archives/06/172.htm specifications block
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Class/era inference: DE-172 sits in the DET-design (Cannon-class) group - the Federal Shipbuilding contract block DE-162 through DE-197 (yard no. 288 per navypedia). A Cannon-class destroyer escort built in 1943 with a diesel-electric plant (four GM 16-278A diesel-generator sets, electric drive, 6,000 shp, ~21 kt) would have carried era-standard asbestos applications appropriate to a diesel-electric ship - exhaust insulation, gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, brake linings, and deck coverings - but no boilers or steam lagging.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1945 construction/era
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; crew 1943-1946
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No material schedule, insulation specification, or hull survey for DE-172 is public; the diesel-electric plant means the largest asbestos categories of steam ships (boiler and steam-line insulation) do not apply; does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cooner-de172-02
-
[4]NavSource Online Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Cooner (DE 172) page (building/operational data, specifications block, commanding-officer list, photo captions incl. December 1972 and 25 May 1973 Philadelphia Inactive Ship Facility images); corroborated by navypedia DET member table (us_de_det.htm), uboat.net allied-warships entry, and Wikipedia infobox [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.org/archives/06/172.htm building/operational data block + CO list + photo captions 0617207 (NY Navy Yard, 4 Sep 1943), 0617208 (Philadelphia ISF, Dec 1972), 0615005/06 (Philadelphia ISF, 25 May 1973); navypedia.org/ships/usa/us_de_det.htm member row DE172; uboat.net/allies/warships/1468.html
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Construction, disposition and postwar record for this hull from concordant secondary compilations: keel laid 22 February 1943 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp., Port Newark, N.J. (navypedia yard no. 288); commissioned at the New York Navy Yard 21 August 1943 by yard commandant Rear Admiral Monroe Kelly; commanding-officer list (Hechler/Reeves compilation) ends with the muster sheet for 2 April-1 June 1946; photographed in mothballs at the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, U.S. Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, December 1972 (Heilenday collection) and 25 May 1973 (Rick E. Davis photo, nested with DE-537, DE-531, DE-750, DE-150, DE-394, DE-416, DE-418, DE-191); stricken from the Naval Vessel Register 1 July 1972 (NavSource 'Struck from the NVR'; navypedia 'stricken 7.1972'); sold 1 November 1973 and scrapped (NavSource 'Sold, scrapped'; uboat.net 'sold 1 November 1973 and broken up'; no buyer named in the sources reviewed). uboat.net convoy records additionally place DE-172 in Task Force 62 convoy-escort groups to Gibraltar alongside Eldridge (DE-173), Flaherty (DE-135), Amick (DE-168), and Atherton (DE-169), consistent with the DANFS nine-voyage North-Africa escort narrative.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1973
- Population
- Reserve-fleet caretakers 1946-1973; Philadelphia NSY inactive-ship workers; unidentified breaker's-yard workforce 1973-74
- Limitations
- Secondary specialist compilations, not official records - the stricken/sale dates concur across NavSource, navypedia, uboat.net, and Wikipedia, but no official disposal instrument was located (the NVR does not cover hulls disposed of this long ago; no digitized MARAD/NDRF status card found). Photo captions are contributor-submitted. NavSource's decommissioning line (1 June 1946, Green Cove Springs, Fla.) conflicts with DANFS (25 June 1946, Charleston, S.C.) - carried in gaps. The reserve-berthing timeline between 1946 and the documented 1972 Philadelphia lay-up is undocumented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cooner-de172-03
-
[5]Owens-Illinois, Inc., Industrial Health Survey of Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, NJ (Aug. 30-Sep. 2, 1944); introduced as Owens-Illinois interrogatory exhibit #20 in Heathman v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., Brazoria County TX (1990) - via Atlas shipyard dataset record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' (tier 2) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Atlas shipyards.json record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' evidence ev-federal-kearny-ihs-1944 + products pd-federal-kearny-01/-02 (Superex, Kaylo); toxicdocs.org scan
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Builder-yard asbestos practice, build era: the 1944 Owens-Illinois Industrial Health Survey of Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. documented insulators working with Johns-Manville Superex asbestos pipe covering (~15% amosite) and boiler insulation in confined shipyard spaces, with dust counts measured during cutting and fitting operations. DANFS places this hull's construction at Federal's Kearny, N.J., yard (NavSource reads Port Newark - the same company's NJ yard complex); the survey covers the Kearny site one year after the hull was delivered (laid down February 1943, commissioned August 1943, survey August-September 1944).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944 (survey); 1943 (hull construction)
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding insulators, pipefitters, boilermakers (Kearny yard surveyed; DE-172 built 1943 at the same-named site)
- Limitations
- Builder-level context only: the survey documents the builder's asbestos-era products and practices at the yard named in DANFS as this hull's construction site - it does not establish the material schedule of DE-172 itself. Survey was conducted by a manufacturer (Owens-Illinois) with commercial interest; dust counts are pre-fiber-era mppcf. Does not establish that any particular material was installed aboard this hull or exposure to any individual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cooner-de172-04
-
[6]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's extensive shipboard asbestos insulation use with substitution not beginning until the early 1970s - this hull (built 1943) sits fully inside the documented asbestos-use era, and its 1946-1972 reserve-fleet lay-up and 1973 sale for scrapping all predate the Navy's asbestos substitution program.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers (program scope)
- Limitations
- Program-level era context only; not hull-specific. GAO full text returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches - content via product-page description (standing limitation shared with batch-01 records). Does not establish that any particular material was installed aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cooner-de172-05
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 authenticated search sweep (opinion index type=o and RECAP docket index type=r) for this vessel's exact name and hull number [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-cooner-de172-05 through -07
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener sweep (authenticated API v4, cl-auth-search.py, 2026-09-28): 'USS Cooner' returned 0 opinions and 0 RECAP dockets - no indexed opinion or docket names this hull. 'Cooner' is a low-collision surname and only one USS Cooner ever existed, so exact-phrase hits would be vessel-relevant; none exist. 'DE-172' at type=r returned 625 dockets - inspected results are all PACER docket-entry-number ('DE 172'/'DE#172'/'DE-172') string collisions in unrelated matters (U.S. v. Payne-Pabon, D.P.R. criminal; CCUR Aviation Finance v. Machado, S.D. Fla.; U.S. v. Shaygan, S.D. Fla. criminal; Stansell v. FARC, S.D. Fla.; In re Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler bankruptcy reference; et al.), none vessel-related, none asbestos. 'DE-172' at type=o returned 39 opinions - the inspected result page is all string collisions in unrelated opinions (statute/section/exhibit references; Cal. App., P.R. Supreme/Appellate, S.D. Fla., N.D. Ind., Wyo., 6th Cir.), none vessel-related.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28 (sweep)
- Limitations
- Sweep result, not a merits finding: completed queries support 'no indexed opinion or docket names this hull by exact name or hull number'; pleadings naming the hull without indexed phrase matches would not surface at type=o, and RECAP coverage is not the complete federal docket. 'Cooner' unqualified was not run bare - the surname collides with unrelated parties and the ship name is the disambiguator.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cooner-de172-06
-
[8]Batch-4085 search ledger (this record): ibiblio HyperWar DANFS transcription + hazegray DANFS mirror (Wayback); NavSource DE-172 archive (Wayback capture; live navsource.org fetch failed); navypedia DET member table; uboat.net allied-warships entry; Wikipedia (leads only); GAO product page; Atlas shipyard dataset; targeted VA BVA web-index search; CourtListener exact-name and hull-number queries [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-cooner-de172-01 through -10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-172: no hull ACM survey, abatement contract, material schedule, or hazmat disclosure exists in the sources reviewed, and no museum pathway ever existed - the hull spent 1946-1972 in the Atlantic Reserve/Inactive Fleet, was stricken 1 July 1972, and was sold for scrapping 1 November 1973. A targeted web-index search of BVA decisions returned no decision naming this hull (name collisions were USS Cone and other vessels). The ship appears on law-firm asbestos-ship listicles (shepardlawfirm.com carries a dedicated USS Cooner DE-172 page; asbestos-ships.com carries one; mesotheliomahelp.org lists the hull on its destroyer-escorts and Federal-Shipbuilding pages) - marketing pages with no cited source, not consulted as evidence per batch source rules.
- 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 - era materials could have been installed at build and removed or left in place during the reserve-fleet decades and the 1973-74 scrapping, with no surviving public documentation. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. BVA coverage is limited to decisions indexed on the public web - not a full docket search.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-cooner-de172-07