Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
-
[1]Naval History and Heritage Command, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 'Defiance II' (AMc-73) entry [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry text, accessed via public-domain mirror (see limitations)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS-derived record: Defiance (AMc-73), an Accentor-class coastal minesweeper, was laid down 10 April 1941, launched 21 June 1941, and placed 'in service' 24 November 1941; attached to the 10th Naval District; remained in service 1941-1945; struck from the Navy Register in 1946. DANFS does not record a formal commissioning ceremony, consistent with small district-craft practice of the period.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1941-1946
- Limitations
- The live NHHC URL returned HTTP 404 site-wide on 2026-09-23 (history.navy.mil root and all sub-paths tested returned 404; this is standing link rot consistent with the NHHC access problems logged in BATCH-01-REPORT.md). Text was accessed via a mirror that incorporates the public-domain DANFS entry verbatim, and the dates were independently cross-checked against uboat.net and shipbuildinghistory.com's AMc roster, which agree on all figures. The canonical NHHC page could not be re-verified live this session and should be re-located before any publication use. DANFS contains no asbestos, insulation, or machinery-material information and supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-defiance-amc73-01
-
[2]Geotechnical Corp. of Delaware v. Pure Oil Co., 214 F.2d 476 (5th Cir. 1954); companion opinions at 94 F. Supp. 866 (E.D. La. 1951), 196 F.2d 199 (5th Cir. 1952), and 129 F. Supp. 194 (E.D. La. 1955) [court_record]
- Locator
- 214 F.2d 476, 477 (opening paragraph, per Dawkins, District Judge)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Published Fifth Circuit admiralty opinion independently confirms vessel identity and documents its fate: 'The Pure Oil Company (libelant) owned the Leo Huff which was formerly a U. S. Navy mine sweeper (type AMC) purchased as surplus property by libelant and converted to a vessel suitable for offshore, underwater geophysical exploration.' The opinion and its companion rulings (94 F. Supp. 866, E.D. La. 1951; 196 F.2d 199, 5th Cir. 1952 (consolidated with Pizzo v. Geotechnical Corp. of Delaware); 129 F. Supp. 194, E.D. La. 1955) document that the renamed vessel Leo Huff was destroyed by an onboard explosion on 5 December 1947 during Geotechnical Corporation of Delaware's dynamite seismographic-blasting operations in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana, killing three Geotechnical employees (Lawrence A. Pizzo among them, subject of the companion wrongful-death claim), and litigated the resulting admiralty liability and vessel-loss valuation dispute through four reported decisions, 1951-1955.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1947-1955
- Limitations
- This is admiralty/negligence litigation over the vessel's commercial loss and valuation, not an asbestos or personal-injury case - none of the four reported opinions in this litigation chain (94 F. Supp. 866; 196 F.2d 199; 214 F.2d 476; 129 F. Supp. 194) mention asbestos, and none should be read as exposure evidence. Logged as 'other litigation' per the batch's CourtListener classification requirement, and used here only as ship-specific fate/identity corroboration. Retrieved and quoted via the authenticated CourtListener helper (cl-auth-search.py) per the fleet rate-limit rule.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-defiance-amc73-02
-
[3]Shipbuilding History (shipbuildinghistory.com), 'Coastal Minesweepers (AMc) Built or Acquired through WWII' roster [other_primary]
- Locator
- AMc-73 Defiance row
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Independent builder roster lists AMc-73 Defiance: built by Herreshoff Mfg. Co. (Bristol, RI); 97 ft length; delivered 24 November 1941; disposition 'Sold 1946.' This corroborates the DANFS placed-in-service date and the Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné's builder attribution. The roster's 205-ton figure differs from the DANFS/uboat.net 195-ton displacement figure; the discrepancy is not resolved and is carried in gaps.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1941-1946
- Limitations
- Enthusiast-maintained shipbuilding reference site, not a government or museum archive; used only to corroborate builder/date/disposition facts already indicated by DANFS-derived text and the Herreshoff record, not as a standalone primary source. Contains no asbestos or shipboard-materials information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-defiance-amc73-03
-
[4]Negative-finding synthesis of this session's search ledger: NHHC/DANFS-derived text, authenticated CourtListener search (queries 'USS Defiance' and 'AMc-73'), Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné, shipbuildinghistory.com AMc roster, and uboat.net [other_primary]
- Locator
- See search_ledger
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- No ship-specific or class-specific (Accentor-class AMc coastal minesweeper) asbestos documentation was located: no hull survey, insulation or material specification, abatement record, hazmat disclosure, or CourtListener litigation naming this vessel, its hull number, or its renamed identity 'Leo Huff' references asbestos. The class comprises small wood-hulled district/coastal minesweepers (many built to converted commercial fishing-boat designs) powered by a single gasoline or diesel engine with no boiler plant - a materially different construction and machinery profile from the steel, steam-powered combatants and Liberty-type merchant hulls for which WWII shipbuilding asbestos literature is typically documented, so that literature is not extended to this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1941-1947
- Limitations
- Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence: small WWII-era wood-hulled craft could still have used asbestos-containing gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, or engine-exhaust lagging as a matter of period industrial practice, but no source located in this session documents that for this hull, this class, or district coastal minesweepers generally. This row establishes only that the public record searched contains no such documentation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-defiance-amc73-04
-
[5]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Abstract and article, AJIM 11(3):359-373
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical scholarship documents that asbestos was used extensively as fireproofing and insulation in U.S. shipbuilding during WWII, the era in which this hull was contracted and built (contracted 1 April 1941; laid down 10 April 1941).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article published 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers generally (era context)
- Limitations
- General WWII-era shipbuilding scholarship; does not name this vessel, its builder (Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.), or its class (Accentor-class AMc coastal minesweepers), and does not address small wood-hulled auxiliary/district craft specifically - the literature it surveys is dominated by steel combatant and cargo-ship construction. Carried as background era context only; establishes no ship- or class-specific asbestos finding and does not raise this record's evidence_tier.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-defiance-amc73-05
-
[6]Convergent identification across uboat.net Allied Warships database, the Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné (herreshoff.info), and shipbuildinghistory.com's AMc roster [other_primary]
- Locator
- Hull classification field, each source
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The batch task list's hull designator 'AMC-73' does not match the Navy's own hull classification symbol for this vessel. Multiple independent sources (DANFS-derived text, uboat.net, the Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonné, and shipbuildinghistory.com) render it 'AMc-73' - lowercase 'c', denoting the WWII-era 'coastal' district-minesweeper symbol, distinct from the later steel-hulled AMS 'coastal minesweeper' type. This formatting mismatch explains why an automated all-tier hull-matching pass keyed to the literal string 'AMC-73' found no matching hull: the vessel is on record as 'AMc-73', not 'AMC-73'.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Limitations
- Corrects a hull-symbol formatting/matching issue only; does not add or subtract any asbestos-relevant information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-defiance-amc73-06