USS Counsel (AMC-142)

Evidence

7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).

1. [1]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive - Counsel (MSF 165) ex-AM-165 ex-AMc-142, file 11/02165 (designation chronology, specifications, disposition) [other_primary]

   Locator

   NavSource 11/02165 - header ('ex-AMc-142') + designation chronology block (Wayback capture 20240528000153; live fetch failed 2026-09-22)

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   NavSource per-hull record, headed 'Counsel (MSF 165) ex-AM-165 ex-AMc-142': 'Originally planned as Coastal Minesweeper Counsel (AMc 142). Reclassified as a Minesweeper AM-165, 21 February 1942. Laid down 15 June 1942 by the Willamette Iron and Steel Corp., Portland, OR. Launched 17 February 1943. Commissioned USS Counsel (AM 165), 27 May 1944.' The reclassification predates keel-laying by nearly four months - AMc-142 was a pre-construction contract designation only, never carried by a built, launched, or commissioned ship. The Willamette order was thus an AMc-designated contract redesignated into the Admirable-class fleet-minesweeper program before construction.

   Verification

   partial

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-22

   Study period

   1941-1973

   Population

   Willamette Iron & Steel construction trades (1942-44); USN crew of the built hull, May 1944 - Jan 1947

   Limitations

   Volunteer-compiled archival page - the sole located source documenting the AMc-142 designation and the exact 21 Feb 1942 reclassification date; corroborated by NavalCoverMuseum ('Originally planned as Coastal Minesweeper AMc-142 Reclassified Minesweeper (AM) February 21 1942') and the uswarships.jounin.jp AMc index ('Counsel | AMc-142 | Willamette Iron & Steel Corp. | 1942/2/21 reclassified to minesweeper AM-165') - both secondary, used for corroboration only, not cited as evidence rows. DANFS omits the AMc designation entirely (ev-02). Live navsource.org fetch failed during research; content verified via Wayback capture 20240528000153 and search-index text. Contains no asbestos information.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-counsel-amc142-01

2. [2]DANFS, 'Counsel' (AM-165) - verbatim NHHC text via Internet Archive Wayback capture 20210723162801 (live history.navy.mil page returns 404 - standing link rot); corroborated by the losthistory.net/hazegray transcription [nhhc_danfs]

   Locator

   DANFS 'Counsel' entry, specifications block + opening lines (Wayback 20210723162801 of history.navy.mil .../danfs/c/counsel.html; mirror losthistory.net/hazegray/danfs/mine/am165.htm)

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   Official DANFS record for the built hull opens directly at the fleet-minesweeper designation: 'Counsel (AM-165: dp. 530; l. 184'6"; b. 33'; dr. 9'9"; s. 15 k.; cpl. 104; a. 1 3"; cl. Admirable). Advice. Counsel (AM-165) was launched 17 February 1943 by Willamette Iron and Steel Corp., Portland, Oreg.; and commissioned 27 May 1944, Lieutenant Commander E. C. Davis, USNR, in command. She was reclassified MSF-165, 7 February 1955.' The official history contains no AMc-142 reference at all - under DANFS the hull exists only as AM-165/MSF-165; the AMc contract designation survives only in the NavSource chronology (ev-01) and secondary indexes.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-22

   Study period

   1941-1955

   Population

   Willamette Iron & Steel construction trades (1942-44); wartime crew (design complement 104)

   Limitations

   DANFS documents the built hull's identity, builder, launch/commission dates, service narrative, and MSF reclassification - not the pre-construction contract designation and not materials or asbestos content. The omission of AMc-142 means the designation chain rests on NavSource (ev-01) corroborated by secondary indexes; the official record's silence is itself consistent with a pre-construction paper designation. Wayback capture cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-counsel-amc142-02

3. [3]Atlas canonical record uss-counsel-am165.atlas.json (branch batch-1189/uss-counsel-am165, Tier 2, 11 evidence rows + 12 ledger rows, researched 2026-09-22) + designation-chain rows ev-01/ev-02 of this record [other_primary]

   Locator

   uss-counsel-am165.atlas.json (canonical); this record's evidence rows ev-01, ev-02

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   All-tier consolidation: AMc-142 and AM-165 are one contract hull, not two vessels. The batch listing 'USS Counsel (AMC-142)' resolves to the canonical record uss-counsel-am165 (Tier 2), which carries the full service history (commissioned 27 May 1944; Pearl Harbor repair; Eniwetok/Saipan/Tinian escort and patrol; the Canberra CA-70 tow to Manus; Peleliu ASW patrol; Eniwetok overhaul; convoy escort to war's end; post-surrender mine clearance in Japanese and Chinese waters from Sasebo to 6 Nov 1945; decommissioning 15 Jan 1947; MSF-165 reclassification 7 Feb 1955; stricken 1 Jul 1972; sold for scrap 1 Sep 1973), the source-discrepancy analysis, the NARA archival leads, and the era/type asbestos inference. This record exists so the former designation resolves to the canonical hull rather than reading as a second vessel.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   correction

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-22

   Study period

   1941-1973

   Limitations

   Internal consolidation statement - asserts only the one-hull identity, itself supported by the NavSource and DANFS rows ev-01/ev-02; the underlying evidence chain is the canonical record's and is not duplicated here.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-counsel-amc142-03

4. [4]NARA, Special List 44 - Named Vessels (finding aid to Vessel and Station Log Books, RG 24) + NARA 'Researching Asbestos aboard US Naval Vessels up through 1961' (RG 19 guided-topic page) [other_primary]

   Locator

   Special List 44 named-vessels table, 'Counsel (AM-165)' row (5/27/1944-6/30/1945); archives.gov asbestos guided topic (RG 19 filing guidance, RG 38 InSurv, RG 24); canonical row ev-uss-counsel-am165-11

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   All federal archival records for this hull are indexed under AM-165, not the AMc designation: NARA Special List 44 holds one named-vessels deck-log volume as 'Counsel (AM-165)' covering 5/27/1944-6/30/1945 (commissioning through mid-1945); no AMc-142 index entries exist. NARA's asbestos-research guide identifies the series that would hold hull-level material specifications - RG 19 Bureau of Ships hull correspondence filed by 'ship's designation and hull designation' (for this hull 'AM165', class correspondence under the namesake hull 'AM136 Class', type correspondence under 'AM', private-yard files under the 'QM' contractor code for Willamette), plus RG 38 Board of Inspection and Survey material-condition reports and RG 24 muster rolls. Any researcher tracing 'AMc-142' must search the archive as AM-165.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   archival_lead

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-22

   Study period

   1944-1945 (SL-44 logbook coverage); guide current as of 2026-09-22

   Population

   USN complement aboard the built hull, 1944-1945 (logged volume)

   Limitations

   Archival lead only - documents which series exist and under which hull number, not that hull-specific material survives in them; no box-level retrieval performed and no drawing, GIB, or correspondence item was confirmed. NARA's own guide notes deck logs and muster rolls 'provide no direct evidence of asbestos.' SL-44 lists only the 5/27/1944-6/30/1945 volume; whether later-commission-period logs (to the Jan 1947 decommissioning) are held was not confirmed in this fetch. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-counsel-amc142-04

5. [5]CourtListener API v4 (authenticated) - this-session designation-string queries 'AMc-142' and 'AMC-142' blocked by shared throttle (HTTP 429); canonical record's same-day sweep (uss-counsel-am165 ledger row sl-07) also blocked; web-search litigation proxy sweeps negative [court_record]

   Locator

   search_ledger rows sl-uss-counsel-amc142-05 through sl-uss-counsel-amc142-08; canonical ledger row sl-uss-counsel-am165-07

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull under any designation was located - but the authoritative opinion/docket sweep is incomplete, not clean. This session's authenticated CourtListener API queries for the designation strings 'AMc-142' and 'AMC-142' (opinion search) both returned HTTP 429 'Request was throttled. Rate limit exceeded: 2800/day' (shared cap consumed by same-day batch agents; 'Expected available in ~9114 seconds' at fetch time); the canonical record's same-day commissioned-name and hull-number sweep ('USS Counsel', 'AM-165', 'AMc-142', 'AMC-142', 'MSF-165') was blocked by the same cap (canonical ledger sl-07). Web-search proxy sweeps ('USS Counsel' / 'AM-165' / 'AMc-142' + asbestos/mesothelioma/lawsuit/site:courtlistener.com) returned no litigation signal - only generic marketing-roster mentions (mesothelioma.com minesweeper jobsites table 'USS Counsel | AM-165 | Admirable | 5/27/1944 | Scrapped, 1973'; mesotheliomahelp.org / mesotheliomaveterans.org name lists - excluded per source rules; they carry no hull-specific evidence) and 'counsel'-the-word collision noise (A.M.C. reporter volumes, appearance-of-counsel and class-counsel text).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-22

   Study period

   2026-09-22

   Limitations

   Negative finding from index and proxy search, not proof no claim was ever filed - and the CourtListener sweep itself is blocked, not clean: 'counsel' is a near-universal term in legal text, so even a working API sweep would return dense name-collision noise requiring row-level review, and a differently-phrased hull reference may exist. CourtListener coverage also skews to digitized federal opinions and RECAP dockets; state-court filings are underrepresented. Establishes only that no qualifying case was located in the sources searched.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-counsel-amc142-05

6. [6]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 2 (1945) - per-hull rows for the built hull as 'AM 165 COUNSEL' (builder Willamette Iron & Steel Corp., keel 15 Jun 42, launched 17 Feb 43, first commission 27 May 44; machinery 'Alco 539', 1,710 shp) + NavSource propulsion line; Corn & Starr 1987 and Fleischer et al. 1946 era surveys - assessment maintained at uss-counsel-am165 ev-02/ev-05/ev-06 [other_primary]

   Locator

   SDB1945v2 PDF pp. 19, 30-31, 329 (per canonical record ev-02); NavSource 11/02165 propulsion line; AJIM 11(3):359-373; PMID 21016030; canonical rows ev-uss-counsel-am165-05/-06

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   Era/type inference for the physical hull - built as AM-165, a steel Admirable-class fleet minesweeper at Willamette Iron & Steel, Portland, 1942-43, during the period when asbestos was used extensively in U.S. shipbuilding (Corn & Starr 1987; the USMC-commissioned Fleischer et al. 1946 survey found amosite 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels') - plausibly carried period-standard asbestos-containing materials in applications typical for the type: exhaust-system and muffler lagging, machinery gaskets and packing, electrical-cable insulation, accommodation/galley joiner insulation, winch and windlass brake linings (relevant on a minesweeper's sweep-gear winches), and deck composition. Because the plant was diesel direct-drive (two ALCO 539 engines through a Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear - no boilers or steam distribution), the dominant WWII asbestos pathway aboard steam vessels - boiler and steam-line lagging - did not exist on this hull, materially lightening its insulation load. This inference applies identically here because AMc-142 is the same hull's pre-construction designation.

   Verification

   inferred

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-22

   Study period

   1941-1973

   Population

   WISCO trades (1942-44); USN crew May 1944 - Jan 1947; PRF layup/inactivation crews (1945-47); reserve caretakers (1947-1972); 1973 scrapping workforce

   Limitations

   Inference from era, builder, vessel type, and documented machinery fit only - no ship-specific document names any asbestos product aboard this hull under any designation; no survey, specification, or material schedule naming AM-165 was located (NARA RG 19 series, ev-04, are the lead). Applies to the built hull AM-165; the AMc-142 designation itself carried no ship and so has no asbestos history of its own. Establishes no asbestos content, quantity, location, condition, individual exposure, or causation.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-counsel-amc142-06

7. [7]Atlas shipyard dataset record 'willamette-iron-steel' (shipyards.json): Willamette Iron & Steel Corporation, Portland, OR (aliases incl. WISCO, Willamette Shipyard), WWII peak employment 12,000, evidence_tier 3 - yard-level litigation product identification per Lineaweaver v. Plant Insulation Co., 31 Cal. App. 4th 1409 (1995) [court_record]

   Locator

   shipyards.json record 'willamette-iron-steel' (yard_id, evidence ev-willamette-01, asbestos_products_documented); Lineaweaver v. Plant Insulation Co., 31 Cal. App. 4th 1409 (1995)

   Finding type

   litigation_product_id

   Finding

   Builder-yard context: the Atlas shipyards dataset carries Willamette Iron & Steel Corporation - the contract holder for the AMc-142 order and builder of the hull as AM-165 - at evidence_tier 3 with a litigation product identification: Pabco (Fibreboard) used as fill-in insulation 'at Willamette' in the 1960s-1970s, per the Lineaweaver appellate opinion. WWII peak employment 12,000.

   Verification

   partial

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   context_only

   Accessed

   2026-09-22

   Study period

   1960s-1970s documented use; this hull's construction window 1942-44

   Population

   Willamette yard insulators, 1966-1968 (study period in yard record)

   Limitations

   Yard-level documentation, not a hull record - the documented product use is repair-era, roughly two decades after this hull's 1942-44 construction window, and asbestos products documented at the yard do not establish installation aboard this hull. The yard record itself marks the identification as needing corroboration: the opinion names only 'Willamette Shipyard' with no corporate name or state. Not ship-specific evidence for any designation of this hull.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-counsel-amc142-07